The company that developed and operated the doomed Titan submersible asked its employees to forego paychecks as it faced economic challenges, according to witnesses testifying before the US Coast Guard body probing the vessel’s deadly implosion last year.

Amber Bay, former OceanGate director of administration, testified on Tuesday during the U.S. Coast Guard hearing on the Titan implosion.

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.