'Scary that I could've been on it': YouTuber Mr Beast says he turned down invite onto Titan sub
25 June 2023, 20:01
YouTuber Mr Beast claims he turned down an invite onto the Titan sub weeks before its fatal voyage towards wreckage of the Titanic.
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The vlogger, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, posted a picture of texts to an unidentified person with ties to the expedition.
It reads: "I'm going to the Titanic in a submarine late this month. The team would be stoked to have you along."
Donaldson wrote alongside the picture: "I was invited earlier this month to ride the titanic submarine, I said no.
Read more: Titan sub ship returns to harbour ahead of implosion tragedy probe
"Kind of scary that I could have been on it."
Five people lost their lives when the submersible suffered what investigators are calling a catastrophic implosion shortly after its departure from support vessel the Polar Prince.
The victims have been named as billionaire Hamish Harding, 55, businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48 and his son Suleman, 19, French ex-navy diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, and Stockton Rush, OceanGate's CEO.
Ross Kemp was set to dive to the Titanic in the same OceanGate submersible, but was prevented from doing so when his production company raised safety fears.
The former EastEnders star was filming his new series of Ross Kemp: Deep Sea Treasure Hunter and was due to visit the grave of the ocean liner 12,000ft below the waves.
The documentary, which would have gone ahead in 2022, was to mark the 110th anniversary of the Titanic.
Professor Jonathan Shalit, of Kemp's agency InterTalent, said: "Their team checked out this OceanGate submersible and pulled out of using it, as it was simply not considered safe or fit for purpose.
"I am just relieved not to have had my post note in history as the agent who killed Ross Kemp."
A Canadian police investigation into the tragedy is now ongoing.
Submersible lost on dive to Titanic suffered 'catastrophic implosion', say US Coast Guard
