The family of a French explorer who died in a submersible implosion has filed a lawsuit for more than $50 million, saying the crew suffered “terror and mental anguish” before the disaster and accusing the submarine’s operator of gross negligence.
Paul-Henri Nargeolet was one of five people who died in the attack. Implosion of the Titan submersible on a voyage to the famous Titanic wreck site in the North Atlantic in June 2023. No one survived the voyage aboard the experimental submersible owned by OceanGate, a Washington state company that has since suspended operations.
Known as “Mr. Titanic,” Nargeolet participated in 37 dives the Titanic site, According to the complaint, he was considered one of the most knowledgeable divers in the world when it came to diving. Lawyers for his estate said in an emailed statement that the “doomed submersible” had a “troubled history” and that OceanGate had failed to reveal essential facts about the vessel and its durability.
According to the complaint, the Titan “dropped weights” about 90 minutes into its dive, indicating that the team had aborted or attempted to abort the dive.
“While the exact cause of the accident may never be determined, experts agree that the crew of the Titan should have known exactly what was happening,” the complaint says. “Common sense would dictate that the crew would have been fully aware of what was about to happen before they died.”
The complaint continues: “The crew likely heard the creaking of carbon fiber intensify as the weight of the water pressed against the Titan’s hull. The crew lost communications and possibly power. Experts believe they continued to descend, fully aware of the ship’s irreversible failures, experiencing terror and mental anguish before the Titan finally imploded.”
An OceanGate spokesperson declined to comment on the lawsuit filed Tuesday in King County, Washington. The defendants are expected to respond to the lawsuit in the coming weeks, according to court documents. The lawsuit describes Nargeolet as an OceanGate employee and a crew member of the Titan.
The complaint also criticizes Titan’s “contemporary, trendy wireless electronics system, and states that none of the controllers, controls or gauges would function without a constant power source and wireless signal.”
Although OceanGate named Nargeolet as a crew member, “many details about the vessel’s defects and shortcomings were not disclosed and were intentionally concealed,” attorneys with the Buzbee Law Firm of Houston, Texas, said in their statement.
Tony Buzbee, one of the attorneys in the case, said one of the goals of the trial was “to get answers for the family about exactly how this happened, who was involved and how the people involved could have allowed this to happen.”
In the aftermath of the disaster, concerns were raised about the Titan’s demise, due to its unconventional design and its creator’s refusal to submit to the independent reviews that are standard in the industry. Its implosion also raised questions about the viability and future of private deep-sea exploration.
The U.S. Coast Guard quickly launched a high-level investigation, which is still ongoing. key public hearing This is part of the investigation which is due to take place in September.
The Titan made its final dive on June 18, 2023, a Sunday morning, and lost contact with its support vessel about two hours later. After a search and rescue mission that attracted worldwide attention, the wreckage of the Titan was found on the ocean floor about 300 metres from the bow of the Titanic, about 700 kilometres south of St. John’s, Newfoundland.
Stockton Rush, OceanGate’s CEO and co-founder, was at the helm of the Titan at the time of its implosion. The complaint describes Rush as an “eccentric, self-proclaimed innovator in the scuba diving industry” and names his estate as one of the defendants.
In addition to Rush and Nargeolet, the implosion killed British adventurer Hamish Harding and two members of a prominent Pakistani family, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood.
The company that owns the Titanic salvage rights The Titanic is making its first voyage to the wreck site in years. Last month, RMS Titanic Inc., a Georgia-based company, launched its first expedition to the site since 2010 from Providence, Rhode Island.
Nargeolet was the director of underwater research for the RMS Titanic. He was part of an expedition that visited the Titanic site in 1987, shortly after its location was discovered, and oversaw the recovery of countless Titanic artifacts, according to the complaint. Lawyers for his estate described him as a seasoned veteran of underwater exploration who would not have participated in the Titan expedition if the company had been more transparent.
The lawsuit blames the implosion on “continued recklessness, recklessness and negligence” by Oceangate, Rush and others.
“The late Nargeolet may have died doing what he loved to do, but his death – and that of the other members of the Titan crew – was wrongful,” the lawsuit states.
