by The family of a French explorer who died in a submersible explosion on Titan has filed a $50m wrongful-death lawsuit against the operator, claiming the crew experienced “terror and mental anguish” before the disaster.
The family of Paul Henri-Nargeolet is seeking more than $50m in damages, accusing OceanGate, the company that owned and operated the beleaguered Titanic shipwreck, and its founder of wrongful death, gross negligence, pre-mortal pain and suffering and mental anguish , and counting. His family filed the case in Washington state court on August 6.
Nargeolet, known as “Mr Titanic” for taking part in 37 dives to the Titanic wreck site – “the most of any diver in the world” – set off with five other crew members to explore on the famous shipwreck on June 18, 2023.
But the entire mission came to a tragic end when the vessel lost contact less than two hours into its journey. The world watched as a search-and-rescue mission got under way to find the crew before the drowned 96-hour oxygen supply ran out.
The deaths that resulted from the “catastrophic accident” were “directly due to the defendants’ “continuous carelessness, recklessness and negligence,” the complaint states.
The suit accuses OceanGate and its founder, 61-year-old Stockton Rush, of designing, building and operating “the submersible” in almost every respect “in a manner outside the normal custom of the public and the diving industries.” This diversion from the standard was “driven by Rush’s apparent obsession with being remembered for ‘innovation’ alongside luminaries like Steve Jobs and Elon Musk,” according to the suit.
The lawsuit alleges that Rush, specifically, violated convention rules, ignored warnings from experts, and used atypical materials, the suit says. Instead, it prioritized promoting its reputation as a “disruptive” industry.
For example, although titanium is usually used for submersible deep-sea exploration, Rush believed that “titanium was unnecessarily heavy” and chose to make Titan’s hull out of carbon fiber, which “breaks down over time under pressure. ” However, Rush acknowledged the “catastrophic failure when you have imperfections in the [carbon fiber] structure,” so he installed an acoustic safety system to detect problems.
The Titan had only gone to the depths of the wreck site a few times before the mission – but these trips would have weakened “the carbon fiber hull and/or the connections and seals between different types of material,” the suit said.
Oceangate’s head of marine operations, “the employee most responsible for the safety of anyone sailing” on Titan, asked to scan the carbon fiber hull as part of a detailed safety report, which angered Rush. Not only did the founder refuse to scan, but after being confronted with the report, Rush fired the safety chief.
In addition to this expert’s opinion, Rush heard warnings from other experts as well as the Marine Technology Association, which sent a letter to OceanGate in 2018 stating that “the current ‘experimental’ approach adopted by OceanGate … could have negative results result (from minor to catastrophic). However, the suit says: “None of the warnings were heeded.”
The vessel has also not been certified by leading group DNV. Rush declined to seek DNV certification for Titan because he believed “it would be too difficult to educate DNV personnel – who are world-class experts on the requirements and dangers of deep-sea diving – on the purported benefits of Titan.” ‘innovative’ design,” the complaint states.
The suit also says that crew members were required to sign a waiver – “which failed to disclose several key material risk factors… regarding TITAN’s design and operation or the materials used in its construction.”
Despite his extensive knowledge of the sea floor near the Titanic, the 77-year-old Nargeolet was not fully informed about the vessel’s safety, the suit says. “Rush and OceanGate have never fully or accurately disclosed all the relevant facts regarding the design and construction of Titan… To the contrary, Rush and OceanGate actively promoted Nargeolet’s (and others’) false understandings of the vessel’s safety and seaworthiness “.
Worse has happened. When the acoustic safety system alarm sounded, when the hull was “cracking under extreme pressure,” it prompted the pilot to release weight and attempt to abort the trip.
The crew had no communication and probably no power either. “The implication is that the crew was well aware that they were going to die, before they died,” the suit says.
“The crew may have heard the cracking noise of the carbon fiber getting louder as the weight of the water pressed against the TITAN’s hull,” the filing states. “According to the experts, they would have continued to descend, fully aware of the vessel’s irreversible failures, suffering terror and mental anguish before the Titan finally took effect.”
Other than the Titan, no commercially manned submarine has ever suffered an explosion, the suit says.
Both Rush and Nargeolet died in the blast, along with British explorer Hamish Harding, 58, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his 19-year-old son Suleman.
Tony Buzbee, one of the family’s lawyers, said in a statement: “We are hopeful that through this lawsuit, we can get answers for the family as to exactly how this happened, who was involved, and how the people involved allow this. to happen.”
In the immediate aftermath of the Titan tragedy, a so-called “log” describing the team’s final moments was circulated on the internet, indicating that they were aware of the discussions to come. But in June, Captain Jason Neubauer, chairman of the Marine Board of Investigation (MBI), told the New York Times: “I’m sure it’s a false transcript.” Neubauer added that his team found “no evidence” that the team was aware of their impending deaths.
The Independent He emailed a spokesman for the MBI for further comment.
A US Coast Guard investigation into the disaster is ongoing. The agency is scheduled to hold a hearing on the disaster in September.
