'What could go wrong?': Eerie joke made by chief of doomed Titan sub ahead of implosion that killed all five crew
6 March 2024, 17:59 | Updated: 6 March 2024, 18:01
The head of the company that built the doomed Titan submersible joked "what could go wrong" just weeks before a descent that ended with the deaths of all five crew members.
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Stockton Rush, whose OceanGate company built the Titan submersible that suffered a "catastrophic implosion" last June, made the quip on a Canadian radio show a few weeks earlier.
It emerged after the disaster that several experts had made safety warnings about the Titan's deep-seaworthiness.
Mr Rush had claimed that the trip was "safer than crossing the street", with he and his company coming under fire following the catastrophe for their experimental engineering techniques.
Mr Rush told the St John's radio station that he had moved the launch date to June because the waters around the wreck of the Titanic - their destination - were the calmest at that time.
"So with the Polar Prince [the ship that took the submarine out to sea], that ice capability we thought, let's move the mission a little earlier this year.
"We specifically designed the submersible for this mission", he added.
Mr Rush, UK billionaire Hamish Harding, French explorer Paul Henry Nargeolet (PH), Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman, all died last June after the Titan imploded.
The disappearance of the sub, which was heading to the Titanic, on June 18 sparked a huge rescue effort, and at one point banging sounds were heard by the people hunting for the sub - sparking faint hopes that the passengers could be saved.
Investigators believe the Titan imploded as it made its descent into the deep North Atlantic waters.
The banging noises, which came at 30-minute intervals, were picked up on sonar by a Canadian aircraft in the Atlantic.
The noises were uncovered by a documentary crew who also found Mr Rush's radio interview.
The documentary-makers also spoke to a Titanic expert who said that the passengers' last moments would have been "absolutely torturous."
Titan Sub documentary reveals banging was heard in audio around time of incident
Dik Barton, the former vice president of RMS Titanic Inc., said: "The focus of both Stockton and PH would've been trying to gain some control of the submersible, trying to recover some height and getting the vessel stable and back to surface.
"That would've been their total and utter focus.
"The fear that would generate, I can't even comprehend. The last little while, I think would've been absolutely torturous."
The documentary, Minute by Minute: The Titan Sub Disaster investigates the events leading up to the expedition. It airs on Channel 5 on March 6 and 7.
Crews spent five days hunting the missing sub down before they discovered debris on the ocean floor near the wreck of the Titanic. Passengers had paid £250,000 a head.
It was reported last year that US authorities are investigating people involved in the Titanic sub, with a view to possibly filing criminal charges.OceanGate has since gone out of business.
