The family of French deep-sea explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet has filed a $50 million lawsuit against the operator of the submersible that imploded during a dive to the Titanic last year, killing him and four others.
Nargeolet’s estate has brought a wrongful death suit against OceanGate in the western U.S. state of Washington, accusing the company of gross negligence.
Nargeolet, often referred to as “Mr. Titanic,” died alongside OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, British explorer Hamish Harding, Pakistani-British businessman Shahzada Dawood, and his son Suleman when the submersible, the Titan, failed during a June 18, 2023, expedition to the Titanic.
Tony Buzbee, one of the attorneys representing Nargeolet’s family, stated that the lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in a Seattle court, “alleges serious issues with the Titan submersible.”
“We hope this lawsuit will provide the family with answers about how this tragedy occurred, who was responsible, and how it was allowed to happen,” Buzbee said.
Matt Shaffer, another attorney for the Nargeolet family, claimed that Rush, OceanGate’s CEO and founder, “wasn’t transparent with the crew and passengers about the dangers he and others were aware of, but the passengers and crew were not.”
OceanGate suspended operations two weeks after the tragedy.
The company had charged $250,000 for a seat on its submersible, but concerns about its safety policies emerged following the implosion.
The victims are believed to have died instantly when the Titan, roughly the size of an SUV, imploded under the immense pressure of the North Atlantic at a depth of over two miles (nearly four kilometers).
A debris field was found 1,600 feet (500 meters) from the bow of the Titanic, located 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland.
The Titanic sank in 1912 after hitting an iceberg during its maiden voyage from England to New York, resulting in over 1,500 deaths out of 2,224 passengers and crew.
Discovered in 1985, the wreck has since attracted nautical experts and underwater tourists.
An investigation by the U.S. Coast Guard into the submersible’s implosion is ongoing.
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