PORTLAND, Maine — The 2023 Titan submersible disaster could have been prevented, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a report Tuesday, but OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush ignored safety warnings, design flaws and crucial oversight that may have resulted in criminal charges had he survived.

Rush and four passengers were killed when Titan suffered a catastrophic implosion as it descended to the wreck of the Titanic, sparking a dayslong search in the North Atlantic off Canada that grabbed international headlines. The Coast Guard convened its highest level of investigation in the aftermath, and the disaster has led to lawsuits and calls for tighter regulation of the developing private deep sea expedition industry.

The Titan was owned by OceanGate, a private company based in Washington state. The Co

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