OceanGate Ceases All Operations in the Wake of Titan Tragedy
In what has to be the least surprising news to come out of the headline-grabbing tragedy, OceanGate Expeditions, the company behind the Titan submersible disaster, quietly announced that it would be suspending operations.
As of Thursday, July 6, a message at the top of the company's website now reads: "OceanGate has suspended all exploration and commercial operations." The news comes just two weeks after debris from the Titan, which had been on a mission to explore the wreckage of the Titanic, was discovered on the ocean floor. All five passengers on board, including OceanGate's 61-year-old founder, Stockton Rush, were killed in the incident.
The news draws to close a sad chapter of a story that gripped the world for days. Shortly after launching early in the morning of June 18, the submarine's support vessel, Polar Prince, lost contact with the crew. What followed was an international search mission with coast guard operations from the United States and Canada frantically searching for the sub, as oxygen was limited to just about 96 hours.
Five major pieces of the submarine have since been recovered from a large debris field near the bow of the Titanic, as well as "presumed human remains."
The Titan was one of several submarines that OceanGate owned, although it's unclear if the company will ever resume operations.
In addition to Rush, British billionaire Hamish Harding, French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, and his son, Suleman, were all aboard the vessel when it suddenly imploded. Much has been made about the seemingly unsafe conditions aboard the Titan, with even Titanic director James Cameron blasting the company for ignoring repeated warnings about safety issues.
Unfortunately, it took five passengers' deaths to bring a close to the company's operations.