Titan submersible crew knew they were dying before implosion, family says in wrongful death suit

The family of a French explorer known as "Mr. Titanic" has filed a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit against OceanGate, claiming the company and its leadership's negligence led to the "preventable" implosion tragedy.

Paul-Henri Louis Emile Nargeolet was one of five people who died when OceanGate's Titan submersible imploded on the way down to the Titanic shipwreck in June of 2023. He'd served as a crewmember aboard the Titan, helping navigate through the wreckage that he'd dived to 37 times before — the most of any diver worldwide, according to the suit.

The complaint states Nargeolet had become "synonymous" with the Titanic after being a part of the initial expedition to the Titanic in 1987 and later becoming director of underwater research at RMS Titanic Inc., which owns the ship's salvage rights.

And although he "may have died doing what he loved to do," Nargeolet's estate alleges the Titan's implosion was due to OceanGate and its co-founder Stockton Rush's "persistent carelessness, recklessness and negligence." It also asserts that Rush and other defendants ignored warnings of the Titan's flawed design and operation, resulting in Nargeolet's avoidable death.

The U.S. Coast Guard is still investigating how exactly the Titan imploded. Concerns had risen over whether the submersible's design had been doomed from the start due to the pressure at nearly 13,000 feet below sea level, where the Titanic wreckage is, being incompatible with the Titan's design.

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According to the lawsuit, the Titan is and was the only submersible with a carbon-fiber hull, which was laid at Rush's direction. It states that the CEO knew the material could break down over time under pressure and acknowledged this could lead to "imperfections," like a "crackling" noise when the material is subject to excessive stress. Because of this, the suit alleges Rush installed an "acoustic safety system" to detect the noise so that the submersible's pilot would know to ascent.

An OceanGate employee inspecting the Titan in 2018 told Rush about his concerns regarding the safety of the carbon-fiber hull, but Rush insisted the audio system was sufficient to detect issues, according to the suit. Another explorer reportedly told Rush he "can't cut corners in the deep," but according to the suit Rush "refused to believe that based on the unavoidable laws of physics, the materials and design of Titan could not hold up over time to the challenges of deep-sea expeditions."

The suit alleges when Nargeolet was hired, Rush implied he'd worked with Boeing and the University of Washington on the design to quell any worries about its viability, which "actively fostered Nargeolet's (and others') false impressions" about its safety. And on the day of the implosion, the suit points to the waiver each crewmember signed that didn't state any risk factors on its construction.

About 90 minutes into the Titan's dive that day, the suit states the Titan "dropped weights," indicating the team had likely aborted or attempted to abort the dive. Naval acoustic devices later confirmed an acoustic signal "consistent with an implosion" was observed 90 minutes into the Titan's voyage.

The suit alleges Rush's "acoustic safety system" probably alerted the crew about the pressure cracking the hull and that the pilot then attempted to release weight to abort the dive, but the safety mechanism didn't work. This, the suit states, indicates the crew "were well aware they were going to die before dying."

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"While the exact cause of failure may never be determined, experts agree that the Titan's crew would have realized exactly what was happening," the suit states. "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... 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."

Rush and Nargeolet died in the implosion, as did British adventurer Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood. OceanGate suspended operations a month after the incident.

A public hearing about the Titan implosion is expected to take place in September. Its purpose, per the Coast Guard, is to "consider evidence related to the loss of the Titan submersible."

"The hearing will examine all aspects of the loss of the Titan, including pre-accident historical events, regulatory compliance, crewmember duties and qualifications, mechanical and structural systems, emergency response and the submersible industry," the Coast Guard said in a statement.