Terrifying revelations from the man who refused to board the Titan submersible at the last minute

Mr Guillermo Sohnlein, co-founder of OceanGate Expeditions, said Mr Stockton Rush was "acutely aware" of the risks of deep ocean exploration and was a shrewd risk manager.

However, many experts believe that Mr. Rush was very risky with Titan, an "unconventional" experimental design.

Tiết lộ đáng sợ từ người từ chối lên tàu lặn Titan vào phút cuối - Ảnh 1.

Ocean Expeditions' Titan submersible - Photo: REUTERS

Mr Rush was the CEO of Ocean Expeditions - the company that owned the Titan submersible - and the boat's pilot who died in the accident.

According to Reuters, many concerns were raised about the design of the Titan submersible before and after the accident, from the use of carbon fiber for the hull to "skipping procedures".

"OceanGate created its own test vehicle using materials that others avoided, decided to bypass a certification process designed to ensure safety, and chose to ignore warnings from many experts in the diving community," Ray Dalio, chief investment officer and co-founder of the OceanX Ocean Exploration Initiative, said on June 23.

The Titan submersible is a novel design. It should have been certified by a third party, such as the U.S. Department of Transportation, but Rush’s company decided to skip that step.

Meanwhile, British Titanic explorer Dik Barton pointed out many problems that arose in the design and maintenance of the Titan submersible, saying "there are a lot of red flags flying here".

The most eye-catching revelation came from Las Vegas investor Jay Bloom, who was supposed to be on the Titan submersible with his son. He revealed the terrifying reasons for his decision to abandon the trip at the last minute due to safety concerns.

Mr. Bloom, who is also a licensed helicopter pilot, was concerned about the way Mr. Rush used some of the equipment on the Titan submersible, such as using a joystick used in video games as a control stick for the craft.

Additionally, the Titan is bolted shut when leaving the support ship, which would prevent passengers from exiting on their own in the event of an emergency.

Questions surrounding the Titan submersible's safety actually surfaced in 2018 at a symposium of industry experts and in a lawsuit from OceanGate's own former director of marine operations, which was settled later that year.

Canada investigates safety issues of Titan submersible

Canada's Transportation Safety Board (TSB) says it is conducting an investigation into safety issues related to the operation of the Titan submersible, which tragically exploded and killed five people while en route to visit the Titanic wreck.

The reason Canada took on the case was because Titan's surface support vessel - the Polar Prince - was a Canadian-flagged ship.

A TSB team was dispatched to St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada, nearly 600 km north of the crash site, to gather information and conduct interviews.

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