A close friend of OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who died in the Titan submersible last month when it imploded while heading towards the Titanic remains, has claimed that Mr Rush knew that the trips would "end in a disaster" but continued to develop a "mousetrap for billionaires", as per a report in Sky News.
Karl Stanley, in an interview with 60 Minutes Australia, said that he had flagged to his friend that the carbon fibre and titanium craft was dangerous. "He definitely knew it was going to end like this. He quite literally and figuratively went out with the biggest bang in human history that you could go out with. He was the last person to murder two billionaires at once and have them pay for the privilege," he told the outlet.
"I think Stockton was designing a mousetrap for billionaires," Mr Stanley added.
Mr Stanley also shared his experience of going on a test dive with Mr Rush in the Bahamas in 2019. He said that he has "no doubt" in his mind and believes that "it was the carbon fibre tube that was the mechanical part that failed" which led to the implosion of Titan. "Every three to four minutes there were loud gunshot-like noises. It's a heck of a sound to hear when you are that far under the ocean," he said.
As per Mr Stanley, he expressed his worries to his friend about the carbon fibre hull of the vessel "breaking down," telling him that "it will only get worse" in a series of furious calls and emails. "I literally painted a picture of his wrecked sub at the bottom, and even that isn't enough. He was risking his life and his customers' lives to go down in history," he said during the interview.
A few weeks ago, experts recovered presumed human remains from what is left of the Titan sub, as per the US Coast Guard. Mangled debris recovered from the small submersible was offloaded in eastern Canada, which brought to an end a difficult search-and-recovery operation. A debris field was also found on the seafloor, 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic, which sits more than two miles (nearly four kilometres) below the ocean's surface and 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland.
British explorer Hamish Harding, French submarine expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Pakistani-British tycoon Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman and Stockton Rush, CEO of the sub's operator OceanGate Expeditions died in the tragic accident.
