The family of French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, known as "Mr. Titanic," filed a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit against OceanGate Expeditions, alleging gross negligence in the design of the Titan submersible that imploded during a voyage to the Titanic wreck site in June 2023, killing all five people on board, including Nargeolet.
The lawsuit accuses OceanGate and its CEO Stockton Rush of concealing information about the vessel's flaws and durability, prioritizing innovation over safety measures and industry-standard checks, leading to terror and mental anguish for the crew before the disaster.
The implosion claimed the lives of Nargeolet, British adventurer Hamish Harding, Pakistani father-and-son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, with debris suggesting a catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber.
The lawsuit seeks answers regarding the circumstances of the incident, those involved in allowing it to happen, and the concealment of information about the submersible's flaws by OceanGate Expeditions.
The incident raised concerns about the Titan's unconventional design, lack of independent checks, and advanced electronics system, and the future of deep-sea exploration.
The U.S. Coast Guard is actively investigating the implosion, with a public hearing scheduled for September 2024, and has stated that the inquiry will take longer than initially projected to complete. Debris from the Titan submersible was brought ashore.
This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq
Sources: Bloomberg, Newsweek, ABC News, Fox News, El Heraldo de México.