Crew of Titan submersible implosion experienced ‘terror and mental anguish,’ suit alleges

The family of an explorer who died in the 2023 OceanGate Titan disaster is suing the company for $50 million, alleging the crew suffered “terror and mental anguish” just before the craft’s implosion, according to a lawsuit.

Paul-Henri Nargeolet was on the Titan submersible on a dive to survey the 1912 wreck of the RMS Titanic when the vessel imploded, and everyone aboard died. His family is suing the company for gross negligence, according to the Associated Press.

The Titan was on a dive to survey the famous wreck on June 18, 2023, when it experienced a fault and imploded. In addition to Nargeolet, the crew consisted of OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who was piloting the vessel, British businessman Hamish Harding, and Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, a Pakistani father-son duo.

The suit alleges the crew aboard the vessel would have been aware they were going to die minutes before the craft imploded.

“The crew may well have heard the carbon fiber’s crackling noise grow more intense as the weight of the water pressed on Titan’s hull,” the suit alleges. “The crew lost communications and perhaps power as well. 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.”

The suit further alleges that “many of the particulars about the vessel’s flaws and shortcomings were not disclosed and were purposely concealed.”

The Titanic, operated by the White Star Line, hit an iceberg on April 15, 1912, and sank, killing more than 1,500 people.

The company that owns the salvage rights to the wreck of the Titanic, RMS Titanic, is planning a survey expedition this month.