The tragic outcome of the Titan submersible, with its five passengers dead after the implosion of the ship near the remains of the Titanic, now opens a period of questions to be resolved. Will it be possible to recover the corpses? Could the catastrophe have been avoided with better security measures? Will there be a shower of lawsuits against OceanGate, the company that organized the expedition? At the moment, tracking operations in the area continue, more than 600 kilometers from the coast of Newfoundland (Canada) from where the expedition departed. The objective is to obtain more information about the circumstances of the accident.
Although the five pieces of the submarine found were almost 500 meters from the bow of the Titanic at the bottom of the ocean, it is unknown at what depth the implosion of the ship could have occurred. It is known that they lost contact an hour and 45 minutes after beginning the dive and that with that kind of pressure at these depths the last moments of life for the five passengers must have been “incredibly fast”, according to Aileen Maria Marty, former officer of the United States Army and a professor at Florida International University.
“Everything would have collapsed before the people inside realized there was a problem,” he told CNN. “Ultimately, among the many ways to die, that’s one where you don’t feel pain.”
The finale involving a Brit, a Frenchman, two Pakistanis and the company owner, pilot Stockton Rush, was predictably instant but the story of possible lawsuits ahead for OceanGate threatens to simmer. Rush, a 61-year-old American, knew of the risks involved in his adventures, not only because of the weather conditions in that area of ??the Atlantic, but also because he had ignored the security protocols around the submarines he operated.
Rob McCallum, a specialist in risk expeditions in remote parts of the planet, accused Rush of endangering his passengers in an exchange of emails to which the BBC has had access. He advised him that he would stop using the Titan until it was approved by an independent body.
“I think you are putting yourself and your clients in a dangerous dynamic,” he wrote to her in 2018. “In your run to the Titanic, you are imitating that famous saying: ‘which is unsinkable.'” On April 15, 1912, that maxim was broken in half, when 1,514 people lost their lives that night in the icy waters of the Atlantic.
The CEO’s response was forceful, “tired of industry players who resort to a security argument to stop innovation.” The discussion ended with accusations of lawsuits involved, a scenario that his company could now face.
In recent days, revelations have continued to surface about the way OceanGate operates and the development of its highly engineered carbon fiber and titanium 10-tonne ship where Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Suleman and Shahzada Dawood, Hamish Harding and the propror traveled. Rush. They all paid the company $250,000 for the trip to the wreck of the Titanic.
This was the only scheduled expedition of the year for OceanGate due to adverse weather conditions. In addition, they had faced a series of mechanical problems that forced trips to be canceled or delayed in recent years, according to court documents. The botched tours led to a couple of lawsuits in which some high-paying customers tried to recoup their money.
OceanGate covered its ass by making travelers sign a waiver of liability in the event of a fatal accident. However, there are ways to sue the company, according to legal experts. A judge could find that there are reasons to invalidate those previous agreements if there is sufficient evidence of negligence or dangers that the crew members were unaware of.
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