Lawyers for the family of French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet who died in last year’s submersible implosion while on a voyage to the Titanic wreck site have filed a wrongful death action.
As Associated Press (AP) reports, the legal action is seeking more than 50 million dollars (£39 million).
All five people on board the Titan submersible died in June 2023, including Mr Nargeolet, Stockton Rush, the American chief executive officer of OceanGate; British businessman Hamish Harding; Pakistani-British businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman.
Mr Nargeolet was director of underwater research for RMS Titanic, and is described in the lawsuit as “a seasoned veteran of underwater exploration who would not have participated in the Titan expedition if the company had been more transparent” according to AP.
He had previously visited the Titanic site off Newfoundland many times and was regarded as a world expert.
In emailed statement, lawyers for his estate said that the “doomed submersible” had a “troubled history”, and that OceanGate failed to disclose key facts about the vessel and its durability.
The lawsuit claimms that the submersible “dropped weights” about 90 minutes into its dive, indicating the team had aborted or attempted to abort the dive.
“The crew may well have heard the carbon fibre’s crackling noise grow more intense as the weight of the water pressed on Titan’s hull. The crew lost communications and perhaps power as well,”it says.
“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,”it ays.
A spokesperson for OceanGate declined to comment on the lawsuit, which was filed earlier this week in King County, Washington on behalf of the Buzbee law firm of Houston, Texas.
Read the AP report in breakingnews.ie
