Testimony continued on Tuesday (September 24) in the U.S. Coast Guard’s hearings into the undersea implosion of the Titan submersible in June 2023 in which five people were killed, with an expert saying there were numerous “red flags” when he rode on Titan four years earlier, including a loud noise.

Karl Stanley, a friend of Stockton Rush, the founder of OceanGate, which operated Titan, told the hearing that the way Titan was towed out also indicated Rush’s “lack of faith in that vessel.”

Titan imploded while diving to the wreck of the Titanic, which sits on the ocean floor about 3,800 meters (12,500 feet) below the surface. The five who died included Rush, who was piloting the craft. OceanGate charged $250,000 per person to make the Titanic trip.

READ: US Coast Guard starts hearing into failings of Titan submersible

The U.S. Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation has been hearing testimony from expert witnesses and OceanGate employees since September 16th and is set to wrap up at the end of the week.

A debris field from the Titan was found at the bottom of the North Atlantic by a robotic diving vehicle deployed from a Canadian search vessel, ending an intense five-day international rescue effort.

(Production: Ashraf Fahim)