OceanGate boss Stockton Rush dismissed crew report of 'really loud bang' on Titan sub saying all vessels make noise
5 July 2023, 05:53 | Updated: 5 July 2023, 22:35
Footage has emerged of OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush dismissing fears about a "loud bang" heard on the Titan submersible, saying all diving vessels make some kind of noise.
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Mr Rush, who was one of five people killed aboard the sub during a voyage to the Titanic shipwreck, downplayed concerns after a crew member reported hearing the sound.
In a clip from the BBC's The Travel Show, broadcast last year, he said they heard a "really loud bang" while the Titan was on the surface.
He admitted it was "not a soothing sound" but insisted that "almost every deep-sea sub makes a noise at some point".
Fears about the safety of the sub's carbon-fibre hull have been raised since the vessel disappeared.
Read More: OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush compared glue holding Titan sub together to peanut butter
It is believed to have imploded during the mission to see the famous shipwreck, killing Mr Rush and four other passengers - British billionaire Hamish Harding, French explorer Paul Henry Nargeolet, businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman.
Other footage also shows how Mr Rush revealed the sub was damaged during a test dive in 2018.
"Fortunately, it was not a direct strike," he told Matt Burdyny, the vice president of Teledyne Marine.
"A direct strike to the carbon fibre probably would have taken us totally out."
The interview has been deleted from Teledyne's website, though it remains online.
And a former OceanGate employee who was fired after raising safety concerns sent an email saying he was worried Mr Rush would end up dead along with others "in a quest to boost his ego".
David Lochridge was worried about the carbon-fibre hull, saying it wasn't used in other subs.
The new claims emerged in The New Yorker who said Lochridge wrote: "I don't want to be seen as a Tattle tale but I'm so worried he kills himself and others in the quest to boost his ego.
"I would consider myself pretty ballsy when it comes to doing things that are dangerous but that sub is an accident waiting to happen.
"There's no way on earth you could have paid me to dive the thing."
Canadian authorities are investigating the disaster.
