“Almost every deep-diving submarine makes a noise at some point”: As OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush downplayed the “really loud bang” on the previous voyage when Titan was on the surface
- In the 2022 documentary, a crew member warned Rush that they had heard a bang
- “Almost every deep-sea submarine makes a sound at some point,” Rush replied
- Five passengers, including Rush, died while diving to the Titanic last month
Another clip has surfaced of OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush dismissing previous concerns about the deadly titanium submersible. The CEO was filmed ignoring a “really loud bang” on a previous mission.
Five passengers, including Rush, British billionaire Hamish Harding and French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Shahzada Dawood, 58, and his 19-year-old son Suleman died in a dive to the Titanic last month.
In a BBC documentary, which was only viewable outside the US, a crew member warned Rush on camera that they heard, in Rush’s words, “a really loud bang” while the Titan was at the sea’s surface.
Rush, who addressed his entire team in the 2022 documentary, dismissed the concerns, although he agreed it was “not a reassuring tone,” the Independent reported.
“Almost every deep-sea submarine makes a noise at some point,” he said, pointing to Nargeolet, who said he could “confirm” it was normal.
Another clip has surfaced of OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush dismissing previous concerns about the deadly titanium submersible. The CEO was filmed ignoring a loud bang on a previous mission
In the same documentary, Rush admitted he “broke some rules” in making the Titan, comparing himself to US General Douglas MacArthur.
“I want to be remembered as an innovator.” “I think it was General MacArthur who said remember the rules you break,” he said.
“I broke some rules to make this. I think I broke them with logic and good engineering.”
In the days and weeks since the tragedy, concerns have been raised frequently by employees and associates.
Just yesterday, a man who was once a passenger on Titan claimed that OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush suggested the crew sleep on the ship overnight while it was stranded at the bottom of the Atlantic.
Jaden Pan’s 2021 expedition took a horrific turn when Titan’s battery ran out on the seabed a little over two hours after descending to the Titanic wreck.
Speaking to the BBC last year, the videographer recalled the moment Rush told passengers the battery was “dead”.
Rush reportedly told passengers they needed to return to the surface when they were just two football pitches from the iconic shipwreck.
“At first I thought he was joking because our expedition was already over two hours and we were so close to the ground,” Pan told the BBC.
The crew were pictured smiling arm in arm before boarding the submersible and embarking on the $250,000-per-person voyage that killed them and three other people.
Pan’s story came to light after five passengers, including Rush, were killed on a dive to the Titanic last month
CEO Stockton Rush: “I broke some rules to do this. (¿) With carbon fiber and titanium, there’s a rule that says you can’t do that. Well I have.”pic.twitter.com/4A7YAfDNUG
— The Intellectualist (@highbrow_nobrow) June 30, 2023
As previously reported, David Lochridge, OceanGate’s former Director of Marine Operations, who worked for the company between 2015 and 2018, has been fired after raising concerns about Titan’s safety during much of the construction process.
Rush — a self-proclaimed “innovator” who wanted to push the boundaries of passenger diving — was one of five dead on Titan’s final voyage after her hyperbaric chamber imploded near the 12,000-foot depth where Titanic rests.
He reportedly believed that it would be “safer to take Titan to the depths of the Atlantic than to cross the Strait” despite being warned by dozens of experts in 2018 that his company’s “experimental” approaches were “disastrous”. could be.
The safety of the submersible and OceanGate’s denial of several warnings have drawn significant criticism after the Titan disappeared to the seabed during a dive on June 18.
The CEO – who considered himself more of a scientist than a salesman, although his main focus was marketing the submarine rides – was asked to shut down operations in 2019 after a diving expert heard cracking noises while diving the Titan in the sea had bahamas.