The family of a French explorer who died in a submersible implosion has filed a lawsuit seeking more than $50 million, alleging that the crew experienced “terror and mental anguish” before the disaster and accusing the sub’s operator of gross negligence. Paul-Henri Nargeolet was among five people who perished when the Titan submersible imploded during a voyage to the famed Titanic wreck site in the North Atlantic in June 2023. No one survived the trip aboard the experimental submersible owned by OceanGate, a company based in Washington state, which has since suspended operations.
Nargeolet, known as “Mr. Titanic,” had participated in 37 dives to the Titanic site, more than any other diver, according to the lawsuit. He was regarded as one of the world’s foremost experts on the famous wreck. Attorneys for his estate stated in an email that the “doomed submersible” had a “troubled history,” and that OceanGate failed to disclose key facts about the vessel and its durability.
The lawsuit claims that the Titan “dropped weights” about 90 minutes into its dive, indicating that the team had aborted or attempted to abort the mission. “While the exact cause of failure may never be determined, experts agree that the Titan’s crew would have realized exactly what was happening,” the lawsuit states. “Common sense dictates that the crew were well aware they were going to die before dying.”
Further, the lawsuit alleges that “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 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.”
A spokesperson for OceanGate declined to comment on the lawsuit, which was filed in King County, Washington. The defendants are required to respond to the complaint in the coming weeks, according to court documents. The lawsuit identifies Nargeolet as an employee of OceanGate and a crew member of the Titan.
The suit also criticizes Titan’s “hip, contemporary, wireless electronics system,” stating that none of the controllers, controls, or gauges would work without a constant power source and a wireless signal. Despite designating Nargeolet as a crew member, “many of the particulars about the vessel’s flaws and shortcomings were not disclosed and were purposely concealed,” according to the attorneys from the Buzbee Law Firm of Houston, Texas.
Tony Buzbee, one of the attorneys on the case, stated one of the lawsuit’s goals is to “get answers for the family as to exactly how this happened, who all was involved, and how those involved could allow this to happen.”
In the aftermath of the disaster, concerns were raised about whether the Titan was doomed due to its unconventional design and its creator’s refusal to submit to independent checks standard in the industry. The implosion also raised questions about the viability and future of private deep-sea exploration.
The U.S. Coast Guard quickly convened a high-level investigation, which is still ongoing. A key public hearing integral to the investigation is scheduled for September.
The Titan embarked on its final dive on June 18, 2023, a Sunday morning, and lost contact with its support vessel about two hours later. After a search and rescue mission that garnered global attention, the Titan’s wreckage was discovered on the ocean floor approximately 984 feet (300 meters) off the bow of the Titanic, about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland.
OceanGate CEO and co-founder Stockton Rush was operating the Titan when it imploded. The lawsuit describes Rush as “an eccentric and self-styled ‘innovator’ in the deep-sea diving industry,” and names his estate as one of the defendants.
In addition to Rush and Nargeolet, the implosion killed British adventurer Hamish Harding and two members of a prominent Pakistani family, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood.
The company that owns the salvage rights to the Titanic is currently on its first voyage to the wreckage site in years. Last month, RMS Titanic Inc., a Georgia-based firm, launched its first expedition to the site since 2010 from Providence, Rhode Island.
Nargeolet was the director of underwater research for RMS Titanic. He participated in an expedition to visit the Titanic site in 1987, shortly after its location was discovered, and supervised the salvage of numerous Titanic artifacts, the lawsuit states. His estate’s attorneys described him as a seasoned veteran of underwater exploration who would not have participated in the Titan expedition if the company had been more transparent.
The lawsuit attributes the implosion to the “persistent carelessness, recklessness, and negligence” of OceanGate, Rush, and others. “Decedent Nargeolet may have died doing what he loved to do, but his death — and the deaths of the other Titan crew members — was wrongful,” the lawsuit concludes.
