The family of renowned Titanic explorer Paul Henri-Nargeolet is seeking $50 million in damages from OceanGate, the company behind the doomed Titan submersible. The lawsuit alleges that the company's reckless disregard for safety led to the tragic deaths of all five crew members, including Nargeolet, who endured unimaginable terror before the vessel's catastrophic implosion.
At the heart of the suit are accusations of gross negligence against OceanGate and its CEO, Stockton Rush. The company is alleged to have prioritized profit and publicity over the safety of its passengers. By circumventing industry standards, ignoring expert advice, and cutting corners, OceanGate created a perilous environment for those aboard the Titan, the Independent reported.
The lawsuit contends that Rush's obsessive pursuit of innovation blinded him to the critical importance of safety. His alleged disregard for established protocols, coupled with the company's failure to disclose the full extent of the risks involved, created a deadly recipe for disaster.
The family of Paul Henri-Nargeolet hopes that by holding OceanGate accountable, they can prevent similar tragedies from occurring in the future. The legal battle promises to shed light on the circumstances surrounding the fatal expedition and may lead to significant changes in the regulation of deep-sea exploration.
For instance, while titanium is typically used in deep-sea submersibles, Rush believed it was unnecessarily heavy and chose carbon fiber for the Titan's hull instead. The lawsuit notes that carbon fiber "breaks down over time under pressure," and although Rush acknowledged the potential for "catastrophic failure" due to imperfections in the carbon fiber structure, he installed an acoustic safety system to detect problems.
The Titan had only made a few trips to the depth of the wreck site before the mission, but these journeys may have weakened the vessel's "carbon-fiber hull and/or the connections and seals between disparate types of material," the suit contends.
OceanGate's head of marine operations, who was "ultimately most responsible for the safety of anyone sailing" on Titan, requested a scan of the carbon fiber hull as part of a detailed safety report. This request reportedly angered Rush, who not only refused to conduct the scan but also fired the safety chief after addressing the report.
In addition to this expert's concerns, Rush received warnings from other experts and the Marine Technology Society, which sent a letter to OceanGate in 2018 cautioning that the company's "experimental" approach "could result in negative outcomes (from minor to catastrophic)." According to the lawsuit, "None of the warnings were heeded."
The vessel was also never certified by the leading certification group DNV. Rush declined to seek DNV certification for Titan, believing 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 supposed advantages of Titan's "innovative" design, the complaint states.
The lawsuit also alleges that crew members were required to sign a waiver that "failed to disclose many key, relevant risk factors...regarding the design and operation of TITAN or the materials used in its construction."
Despite his extensive knowledge of the ocean floor near the Titanic wreck, the 77-year-old Nargeolet was never fully informed about the safety of the vessel, the suit claims. "Neither Rush nor OceanGate ever fully or accurately disclosed all of the material facts regarding Titan's design and construction...On the contrary, Rush and OceanGate actively fostered Nargeolet's (and others') false impressions about the safety and seaworthiness of the vessel."
Tragically, when the acoustic safety system's alarm indicated that the hull was "cracking under extreme pressure," the pilot attempted to abort the expedition by releasing weight.
The crew, however, had no communications and likely no power. "Common sense dictates that the crew were well aware they were going to die, before dying," the suit states.
"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 filing says. "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."
Aside from the Titan, no commercial manned submersible has ever suffered an implosion, the suit says.
Both Mr Rush and Mr Nargeolet died in the implosion, along with British explorer Hamish Harding, 58, UK-based Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his 19-year-old son Suleman.
Tony Buzbee, one of the lawyers for the family, 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 all were involved, and how those involved could allow this to happen."
