Submersible Expert Warns of OceanGate CEO’s ‘Glory’ Obsession Before Fatal Titan Implosion
A submersible expert who previously warned OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush about the risks of taking passengers on the Titan submersible has spoken out about the events leading up to the 2023 fatal implosion. Karl Stanley, who rode inside the Titan in 2019, told Business Insider that viewers of two upcoming documentaries on the tragedy will see how Rush was a man "hell bent on glory."
According to Stanley, who operates a submersible company in Honduras, the BBC documentary "Implosion" will give an in-depth look at the events leading up to the submersible’s catastrophic implosion. The documentary is set to premiere on May 27, while Netflix will premiere its own documentary on the Titan on June 11. Stanley said he consulted with the Netflix team and sold images for the documentary.
Stanley, who was one of the early passengers of OceanGate’s Titan submersible, expressed concerns about the ship’s safety after a 2019 expedition. In emails shared with Business Insider, Stanley tried to dissuade Rush from taking on more passengers for the Titan before running more tests and identifying possible hull defects on the ship. Stanley told Business Insider in a 2024 interview that he didn’t realise the full extent of the vessel’s issues until he read about them in a Wired piece published one year after the fatal dive.
The trailer for the coming Netflix documentary showed how former staffers similarly believed that Rush sought fame in his pursuit of the Titan expeditions. Rob McCallum, a former OceanGate advisor, said in the trailer that Titan’s failure was a "mathematical certainty." Stanley told Business Insider that he believes the Titan implosion "was not an accident" and that "the biggest hanging question is who else should be held responsible and to what extent."
The incident resulted in the deaths of five passengers, including Rush, who dove to the site of the Titanic wreckage in the North Atlantic on June 18, 2023. The crew was crammed inside a 22-feet long, carbon fibre vessel that many deep-diving experts argued was an unconventional material that led to the implosion.
In August 2024, the family of French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, one of the passengers who died inside the Titan, filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against OceanGate and Rush’s estate. The lawsuit alleged the incident was the result of "carelessness, recklessness, and negligence" of OceanGate, Rush, and others. OceanGate said in a statement to Business Insider that they "again offer our deepest condolences to the families of those who died on June 18, 2023, and to all those impacted by the tragedy."
As noted by Business Insider, Stanley hopes that with the documentaries, the public perception will be less that submersibles are "unsafe/scary" but rather that Rush was a man "hell bent on glory that should have been stopped, not by laws, but by the people around him, and surely not funded to the tune of 10’s of millions."
The documentaries will likely shed more light on the circumstances surrounding the Titan implosion and the role of Rush and OceanGate in the tragedy. As Business Insider previously reported, the incident has raised questions about the safety of submersibles and the regulations surrounding their use.
The BBC documentary "Implosion" and the Netflix documentary will provide a detailed account of the events leading up to the Titan implosion. According to Business Insider, Stanley’s account of the events will feature prominently in both documentaries.
Karl Stanley’s concerns about the Titan submersible were previously reported by Business Insider. The submersible expert’s warnings about the risks of taking passengers on the Titan submersible were ignored by OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush.
The Titan implosion was a major news story in 2023, and the upcoming documentaries will provide a detailed account of the events leading up to the tragedy. As reported by Business Insider, the incident has raised questions about the safety of submersibles and the regulations surrounding their use.
The investigation into the Titan implosion is ongoing, and the documentaries will likely shed more light on the circumstances surrounding the tragedy. According to Business Insider, the incident has resulted in a re-evaluation of the safety protocols surrounding submersibles.
The BBC and Netflix documentaries will provide a comprehensive account of the Titan implosion and the events leading up to it. As noted by Business Insider, the documentaries will examine the role of OceanGate and Stockton Rush in the tragedy.
The Titan implosion was a major news story in 2023, and the upcoming documentaries will provide a detailed account of the events leading up to the tragedy. According to Business Insider, the incident has raised questions about the safety of submersibles and the regulations surrounding their use.
In conclusion, the documentaries will provide a comprehensive account of the Titan implosion and the events leading up to it. As reported by Business Insider, the incident has resulted in a re-evaluation of the safety protocols surrounding submersibles.
