Oceangate CEO Stockton Rush was among those killed.
A close friend of OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who died last month in the Titan submarine when it imploded while en route to the remains of the Titanic, has claimed Mr Rush knew the voyages “would end in disaster” but went on to develop a “mousetrap for billionaires”, according to a report in sky news.
Karl Stanley, in an interview with 60 Minutes Australia, said he had indicated to his friend that the carbon fiber and titanium craft was dangerous. “He definitely knew it was going to end this way. He went out quite literally and figuratively with the biggest bang in human history you could go out with. He was the last person to kill two billionaires at once and make them pay for the privilege,” he told the outlet.
“I think Stockton designed a mousetrap for billionaires,” added Stanley.
Mr. Stanley also shared his experience during a test dive with Mr. Rush in the Bahamas in 2019. He said he had “no doubt” in his head and believes that “it was the carbon fiber tube that was the mechanical part that failed” that led to Titan’s implosion. “There were loud gunshot-like noises every three to four minutes. It’s an amazing sound to hear when you’re so far under the ocean,” he said.
According to Mr Stanley, he voiced his concerns to his friend about the ship’s carbon fiber hull “breaking it down”, telling him that “it’s only going to get worse” in a series of irate phone calls and emails. “I literally painted a picture of his wrecked submarine on the bottom, and even that’s not enough. He risked his life and the lives of his clients to make history,” he said during the interview.
A few weeks ago, experts recovered suspected human remains on what’s left of the Titan submarine, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. Mutilated debris recovered from the small submarine was unloaded in eastern Canada, ending a difficult search and recovery operation. A debris field was also found on the seafloor 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic, which is more than two miles (nearly four kilometers) below the ocean’s surface and 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland.
British explorer Hamish Harding, French submarine expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Pakistani-British tycoon Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman and Stockton Rush, CEO of the submarine operator OceanGate Expeditions, died in the tragic accident.
