OceanGate co-founder Guillermo Söhnlein told a Coast Guard hearing Monday that the Titan submersible disaster “was not supposed to happen.”

The co-founder of OceanGate says buying submarines from larger, certified companies was not an affordable option for their vision in making deep sea exploration accessible to the public. Guillermo Söhnlein testified at U.S. Coast Guard hearings into the Titan disaster today.

Titan submersible company co-founder says disaster 'can’t be the end of deep ocean exploration.'

The man who co-founded OceanGate alongside Stockton Rush will testify during week two of the U.S. Coast Guard’s hearing into the Titan disaster. Guillermo Söhnlein teamed up with Rush to launch OceanGate in 2009. He left the company in 2013 to pursue other opportunities related to deep-sea exploration, but retained a minority stake.

OceanGate cut corners for years before the catastrophic implosion, former employees say at Coast Guard hearing.

The co-founder of OceanGate has said he hopes the Titan sub disaster won't mark the end of deep-sea exploration.