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Titan sub: OceanGate CEO dismissed safety warnings as ‘baseless cries’, emails show

Stockton Rush told a deep-sea exploration specialist he was ‘tired of industry players who try to use a safety argument to stop innovation’

Flowers placed at the port of St John's in Newfoundland, Canada, in memory of the five men lost in the catastrophic Titan implosion. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire

Josh Payne, PA Chief Reporter in St John's, Canada
Sat Jun 24 2023 - 08:14

The chief executive of the company responsible for the Titan submersible dismissed safety concerns over the deep-sea vessel, emails have shown.

The BBC reported OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who was one of the five people who died in Titan’s catastrophic implosion, had previously written that he had heard “baseless cries” of “you are going to kill someone” – which he believed were a “serious personal insult”.

His words could be seen in emails between Mr Rush and deep sea exploration specialist Rob McCallum – in which he also said he was “tired of industry players who try to use a safety argument to stop innovation”.

Tributes have been paid to the Titan submersible passengers and pilot who were killed in the fatal implosion, with the families of Shahzada Dawood, his son Suleman, and Hamish Harding describing them as “beloved” and “dedicated” fathers and sons.

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Mr Rush and French national Paul-Henri Nargeolet were also confirmed to have died in the incident.

The emails, seen by the BBC, show Mr McCallum told OceanGate’s chief executive that he was “mirroring that famous cry” of the Titanic’s builders: “She is unsinkable.”

The broadcaster reported that the email exchange ended when the company’s lawyers threatened legal action.

After the catastrophic implosion of the vessel, the other co-founder of OceanGate, Guillermo Sohnlein, defended the firm – describing regulations surrounding visits to the Titanic wreckage as “tricky to navigate”.

On Friday, five red roses were left in St John’s harbour in memory of the pilot and four passengers, with each displaying a message saying “RIP” followed by their name.

After the emails were released, Mr McCallum told the BBC he repeatedly urged OceanGate to seek certification for the Titan before using it for commercial tours.

One of his emails read: “I implore you to take every care in your testing and sea trials and to be very, very conservative.

“As much as I appreciate entrepreneurship and innovation, you are potentially putting an entire industry at risk.”

The submersible lost contact with the tour operator an hour and 45 minutes into the two-hour descent to the wreckage, with the vessel reported missing eight hours after communication was lost.

Mr Sohnlein, who no longer works for OceanGate, told Times Radio he and his co-founder Mr Rush were committed to safety during expeditions.

He said: “He was extremely committed to safety. He was also extremely diligent about managing risks, and was very keenly aware of the dangers of operating in a deep ocean environment.”

Titanic film director James Cameron, who is also a submersibles expert, criticised OceanGate Expeditions for “not heeding warnings” following the vessel’s implosion.

He told the BBC: “We now have another wreck that is based on, unfortunately, the same principles of not heeding warnings.”

In the days that followed the report that Titan had gone missing, the US coastguard said the vessel had a depleting oxygen supply that was expected to run out on Thursday.

A report from The Wall Street Journal said the US navy had detected a sound in the search area for the submersible on Sunday that was consistent with an implosion.

The Associated Press, citing a senior military official, reported that the navy passed on the information to the coastguard, which continued its search because the data was not considered by the navy to be definitive. – PA

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