The estate of a French explorer who was killed along with others in last year’s explosion of the deep-sea submersible Titan sued the company that built it and began the deadly journey to wreck the Titanic.
The suit, filed by the administrator of the estate of Paul-Henri Narjolette in Washington state, names the company, OceanGate Inc.; the estate of its co-founder and CEO, Stockton Rush; and other companies. It is seeking more than $50 million.
It argues that Rush used carbon fiber for the craft’s hull, which had not previously been used in submarines; He denied certification that outside expertise might have prevented the tragedy; And those on board knew they were going to die.
In June 2023, Narjolet, Rush and three others died when a submarine trying to reach the wreck of the Titanic exploded. One of the dead was 19 years old.
“Narjolet may have died doing what he wanted, but his death — and the deaths of other TITAN crew members — was wrongful,” the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in King County, says.
The catastrophic explosion that claimed Norjolett’s life was directly attributable to the continued negligence, carelessness and negligence of OceanGate, Rush and other defendants, it says.
The lawsuit alleges OceanGate and others ignored warnings from deep-sea diving experts and engineers about Titan.
The lawsuit argues that modern commercial submarines for deep-sea exploration are typically made from titanium — but Rush believes that titanium is unnecessarily heavy. and ordered that the hull be made from carbon fiber.
Rush also refused to seek subsidiary certification by DNV, the classification body that advises the maritime industry on safety.
Because of that choice by Rush, the lawsuit says, there were “no independent or third-party sources of information or assurance” prior to the fateful trip.
It was not immediately clear Wednesday whether OceanGate had an attorney in the civil case. The company’s website lists no contact information and includes a message that says “OceanGate has suspended all exploration and commercial activities.”
The sub’s disappearance on June 18, 2023, prompted a frantic search to rescue its crew, and several countries sent resources to help the effort led by the U.S. Coast Guard. The Coast Guard said the debris was eventually found and human remains recovered and returned to land.
The Titan was trying to reach the wreckage of the Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. About 12,500 feet or 2.3 miles deep.
Narjolet is an experienced diver known as “Mr. Titanic,” and has completed 37 dives to famous wrecks in his career. OceanGate hired him to guide the Titanic to the wreck site because he was familiar with it.
OceanGate ceased all exploration and commercial activities after the disaster.
The Coast Guard opened a Maritime Board of Inquiry to determine the cause of the explosion. A public inquiry It will be held on 16th September.
British billionaire Hamish Harding and prominent Pakistani businessman Shahjata Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman were killed in the blast.
The lawsuit also alleges the startling detail that the crew knew the sub was about to explode.
The carbon fiber makes noise under pressure, and Rush installed an “acoustic safety system” that would detect an explosion and alert the pilot, the suit says.
“Even though the exact cause of the failure was never determined, experts agree that the TITAN crew must have known exactly what was happening,” the lawsuit states.
“RUSH’s vaunted ‘acoustic protection system’ would have alerted the crew to the carbon-fiber hull cracking under extreme pressure – releasing the weight and prompting the pilot to abort,” it says. “Common sense dictates that before dying, the crew knew they were going to die.”
The exact amount of damages is not known, but the suit says it could be at least more than $50 million.
