'Terror and anguish' suffered by Titan sub victims in their final moments revealed as family of explorer seek $50m in lawsuit
8 August 2024, 08:02
The "terror and anguish" suffered by Titan sub victims in their final moments has been revealed.
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The Oceangate Expeditions vessel was carrying five passengers to see the Titanic wreckage when it suffered a catastrophic implosion.
Among the victims was French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, along with Oceangate CEO Stockton Rush, British billionaire Hamish Harding, Pakistani investor Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman.
Mr Nargeolet's family have since filed a wrongful death lawsuit, accusing the sub's operator of gross negligence and seeking more than $50 million (£39 million).
Known as "Mr Titanic", Mr Nargeolet had visited the Titanic site many times before and was regarded as one of the world's most knowledgeable people about the famous wreck.
Graphic explains how Titan submersible imploded
Read more: Plaque to be laid next to Titanic in honour of Titan submersible victim
Lawyers for his estate said in an emailed statement that the "doomed submersible" had a "troubled history", and that OceanGate failed to disclose key facts about the vessel and its durability.
According to the lawsuit, the Titan "dropped weights" about 90 minutes into its dive, indicating the team had aborted or attempted to abort the dive.
"While the exact cause of failure may never be determined, experts agree that the Titan's crew would have realised what was happening," the lawsuit filed by Mr Nargeolet's family on Tuesday said.
It continued: "Common sense dictates that the crew were well aware they were going to die, before dying.
"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 crew lost communications and perhaps power as well.
"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."
The lawsuit also criticises the sub's "hip, contemporary, wireless electronics system", adding that "none of the controller, controls or gauges would work without a constant source of power and a wireless signal".
It goes on to label Stockton Rush as "an eccentric and self-styled 'innovator' in the deep-sea diving industry", naming his estate as one of the defendants in the lawsuit.
In a statement, the lawyers, the Buzbee Law Firm of Houston, Texas, said: "The lawsuit further alleges that even though Nargeolet had been designated by OceanGate to be a member of the crew of the vessel, many of the particulars about the vessel's flaws and shortcomings were not disclosed and were purposely concealed."
Tony Buzbee, one of the lawyers on the case, said one of the goals of the lawsuit is to "get answers for the family as to exactly how this happened, who all were involved, and how those involved could allow this to happen".
A spokesperson for OceanGate declined to comment.
