TITAN sub explorers knew they were going to die after a failed last bid to save themselves, according to a new bombshell lawsuit.
The $50 million suit claims OceanGate and its deceased CEO didn’t tell key facts about the vessels durability and “troubled” history.
Paul-Henri Nargeolet was among the five voyagers who died in the submersible when it imploded underwater.
Nargeolet’s estate argued that OceanGate failed to disclose key facts about the submersible in court documents obtained by The U.S. Sun.
But the lawsuit also made a heartbreaking claim that the five onboard would have allegedly known their fate.
It says: “While the exact cause of failure may never be determined, experts agree that the Titan’s crew would have realized what was happening.
“Common sense dictates that the crew were well aware they were going to die, before dying.
“The crew may well have heard the carbon fiber’s crackling noise grow more intense as the weight of the water pressed on Titan’s hull.
“The crew lost communications and perhaps power as well.”
It continues: “By experts’ reckoning, they would have continued to descend, in full knowledge of the vessel’s irreversible failures, experiencing terror and mental anguish prior to the Titan ultimately imploding.”
The detrimental suit goes on to criticise what they refer to as the “hip, contemporary, wireless electronics system” of the Titan that included a modified games controller.
It claims that “none of the controller, controls or gauges would work without a constant source of power and a wireless signal.”
It also says Rush was “an eccentric and self-styled “innovator” in the deep-sea diving industry” and names his estate as one of the defendants.
Even though Nargeloet agreed to participate in the voyage, his estate’s attorneys are alleging that OceanGate “purposefully concealed” information about the vessel.
“Decedent Nargeolet may have died doing what he loved to do, but his death – and the deaths of the other Titan crew members – was wrongful,” the lawsuit reads.
“Rush concealed dangers of which he was aware, specifically providing only certain information to his crew and the public at large.”
It goes on to claim that if the issues had been told, Nargeolet wouldn’t have participated in the voyage at all, his attorneys say.
They’re now hoping to get answers for the family.
OceanGate has suspended operations since the incident.
Nargeloet embarked on an expedition with OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush and three other explorers – Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood, and his 19-year-old son, Suleman Dawood – in the North Atlantic Ocean on June 18, 2023.
The submersible lost contact with its support ship just two hours after beginning its journey.
The story caught global attention as the world waited in anticipation to find the missing five travellers.
Just two days later, the Coast Guard announced that they discovered debris consistent with the submersible.
The US Navy then confirmed that sensors detected a likely implosion that killed the five passengers instantly.
The shocking incident prompted national outrage and a conversation on the dangers of unofficial deep-sea exploration.
The safety of the submersible was immediately called into question and an investigation was launched into OceanGate’s safety standards.
Marine experts expressed concerns with the Titan’s expeditions as far back as 2018.
Will Kohnen, the chair of the Marine Technology Society’s Submarine Committee, said at the time that the Titan’s disappearance didn’t surprise him.
Kohnen wrote a letter to Rush in 2018 citing “unanimous concern” for his company’s missions.
The vessels were not certified by an independent marine agency the submersible only completed 13 out of 90 dives since expeditions began in 2021.
The Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board are still investigating the incident to determine the exact causes of the implosion.
The Coast Guard located the rest of the Titan submersible debris and presumed human remains of the victims in October 2023.
The NTSB, Coast Guard, Marine Board of Investigation, Transportation Safety Review of Canada, and the French Marine Casualty Investigation Authority held a joint evidence review the following November.
The investigation is still underway and a spokesperson for the Coast Guard recently told NPR that they are in a “fact-finding phase.”
A public hearing is anticipated to come by the end of the year.
Rob McCallum, who has led seven dives to the Titanic, previously told The Sun that he warned Rush that the submersible wasn’t safe.
McCallum founded the company EYOS, a similar luxury expedition company.
“I run an expedition company that had delivered over 1,500 expeditions – we are not cavalier, we manage risk as far as we can.
“So when OceanGate say things like exploration involves risk, yes it does, but that doesn’t give you carte blanche to ignore obvious danger.”
McCallum added that he told the OceanGate CEO that an independent agency should test the vessel, but he refused to listen.
He warned Rush that using carbon fire material can’t withstand the depths of the Titanic wreck site.
