Titan sub broke days before doomed dive, says science chief

A sub that imploded on a deadly voyage to the wreck of the Titanic, killing all five people aboard, had malfunctioned days before its final dive last year, a public inquiry has heard.

The former scientific director of OceanGate, the company behind the Titan sub, said the incident had caused engers to "tumble about" and the craft to crash into bulkheading, leaving one enger "hanging upside down" and others clinging on.

Steven Ross added that he did not know whether the Titan's hull was inspected for damage after the episode.

A US Coast Guard inquiry is hearing two weeks of evidence into the deadly implosion of the experimental submersible in June 2023.

Mr Ross said it took a crew more than an hour to get the sub out of the water after the malfunction, days before its final trip.

Earlier on Thursday, a mission member aboard the sub's vessel described watching the crew and engers depart for the Titanic wreck last June, saying: "I saw five people smiling on the way to their journey."

"They were just happy to go, that’s the memory I have," Renata Rojas, who had ed the expedition as a volunteer, testified.

Ms Rojas, who was on a surface vessel, said everything was "working very smoothly" before the sub began its descent.

But she told the probe that she ed losing communications, asking colleagues: "We haven't heard from them, where are they":[]}