by Washington Dirk Hautkapp
They didn’t see it coming or feel it. Death in the imploded submersible in the wreckage of the “Titanic” occurred “in milliseconds”, military medics said on Friday. The crew of five did not suffer. For victims’ families between the ages of 19 and 77, the experience is a cold solace.
Even before the US Coast Guard reported on Thursday afternoon local time that wreckage had been found and a “catastrophic” incident aboard the diving capsule, which no one survived, there was severe criticism of the operator OceanGate. The company of “Titan” developer Stockton Rush, which is one of those killed, is likely to be faced with “huge claims for damages,” lawyers in Washington said. The fact that all participants in the high seas adventure that ended in disaster had to sign waivers in advance, in which the deadly dangers were listed several times, doesn’t change that.
➤ More: Missing submersible: Was the “Titan’s” hull too thin?
Rush has previously admitted in interviews that he “broke the rules” when designing the submersible. In 2021 and 2022, 46 wealthy Titanic guests paid $250,000 each for the trip. This week, the exact cause of the implosion is still being sought, but the material in the diving capsule is likely to have put a fatal screwdriver on the entrepreneur’s work.
“Parallels” to “Titanic”
Well-known Hollywood director James Cameron, who made an award-winning memorial film to the sinking of the “Titanic” in the 1990s and dove about 30 times in the submarine until it sank, has become one of the main witnesses of the criticism. Cameron said in the American media that there were “strange parallels” between the tragedy and the sinking of the “Titanic” in 1912: At that time, the captain of the liner ignored warnings about ice in the North Atlantic. In the case of the “Titan”, the warnings were ignored that the submarine was built very experimentally.
It’s unclear what will happen next with the recovery of remains (and bodies) just 500 meters from the wreckage of the Titanic. The coastguard chief spoke of “unrelenting conditions”. The US media interpreted: The dead five will likely be left in their tomb at sea. It is also unclear whether OceanGate will be billed for the rescue operation. Insiders speak of millions of double-digit sums.
➤ More: The US Navy knew of the deadly end of the “Titan” since Sunday