(Washington) The family of French deep-sea explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, nicknamed “Mr. Titanic” and who died last year in the implosion of the TitanOceanGate’s tourist submersible, accuses the company of “negligence” and is claiming $50 million in damages in the US courts.
According to Tony Buzbee, one of the family’s lawyers who is bringing the lawsuit for “gross negligence” resulting in death, the request was filed Tuesday in a Seattle court (northwestern United States) against OceanGate.
THE Titana small craft of approximately 6.5 m operated by this private American company, had dived on June 18, 2023 to observe the wreck of the Titanic and imploded shortly afterwards, instantly killing the five men on board.
Among them were Stockton Rush, the American boss and founder of OceanGate Expeditions, the organiser of the trip, British businessman Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood, a prominent Pakistani businessman and his son, Suleman, as well as Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
“We hope that through this trial we will get some answers for the family as to what exactly happened, who was involved and how these people were able to let this happen,” Mr.e Buzbee, adding that the complaint included evidence of “serious problems with the submersible.”
According to Matt Shaffer, another attorney for the family, Stockton Rush “was not forthcoming with the crew and passengers about the dangers that he and several others knew about.”
Paul-Henri Nargeolet had dedicated his life to visiting the wreck of the Titanic, with six of the eight exploration missions to his credit, which between 1987 and 2010 brought to the surface more than 5,000 objects from the wreck, lying at the bottom of the North Atlantic, well off the coast of Newfoundland.
OceanGate, which charged $250,000 per seat on the submersible, suspended operations after the tragedy, following revelations about its safety policies that had raised concerns in the past.
Contact was lost less than two hours after the departure of the Titanduring the descent phase of the submersible which probably imploded. Debris was found on the seabed at a depth of almost 4000 meters.
Several investigations, including one by the US Coast Guard, have been opened to elucidate the causes of the disaster.