A year after an Everett company's deep-sea submersible headed for the Titanic suffered a “catastrophic implosion,” killing all five on board, professionals are advocating for better global oversight of manned underwater vehicles and the elimination of “experimental” deep-water vessels. The U.S. Coast Guard said Friday that its Marine Board Investigation into the contributing factors of the Titan submersible’s fatal June 18, 2023 dive “remains active but will take longer than initially projected to complete.” As professionals in the small industry of manned underwater vehicles anxiously await the findings, the tragedy has led some to join forces in a new lobbying group advocating for a universal standard on how submersibles are regulated worldwide. “We have a lot of rules for submersibles, but there's ambiguity on how these rules are being applied,” said Will Kohnen, the executive director of the new nonprofit, called the World Submarine Organization. “It just needs to be more clear, and more importantly, countries around the world need to apply them equally.”

KING