A key employee with the company that owned the experimental submersible that imploded en route to the wreckage of the Titanic pushed back at a question from a Coast Guard investigator about whether OceanGate felt a sense of "desperation" to complete the dives because of the high price tag. But a submersible pilot testified that there was "nothing unexpected" about the Titan's implosion .
Amber Bay, director of administration for the company that owned the doomed Titan submersible, insisted Tuesday that the company would not "conduct dives that would be risky just to meet a need."
But she agreed that the company wanted to deliver for those who paid $250,000 and were encouraged to participate as "mission specialists."
"There definitely was an urgency to deliver on what we had offered and a dedication and perseverance towards that goal," she told a Coast Guard panel.
The Coast Guard opened a public hearing earlier this month that is part of a high level investigation into the cause of the implosion. Some of the testimony has focused on the troubled nature of the company.