As the news of the Titan submersible’s disappearance and implosion unfolded this week, alarming information has come to light about OceanGate’s lack of safety regulations.
Bill Price, a retired travel business expert, spoke to KNX News about the tragedy and his own experience on the Titan in 2021.
“The term survivor’s guilt is maybe not exactly appropriate, but my heart is broken,” he said.
Price described himself as a lifelong history buff and adventurer. When he heard about OceanGate’s new tourist trips to the Titanic in 2021, he jumped at the opportunity, signing up for the maiden voyage. OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, who died in this week’s tragedy, were among the other passengers on the trip.
From the jump, things didn’t go smoothly.
“The first dive that we attempted, a little over an hour into it, we lost radio contact. … Then it was determined that one of the propulsion systems, an electrical system on the one side, was not operating.”
“So the decision was made to scrub at that point, and in the process of scrubbing, we needed to release the weights that were holding us down … and the mechanism that released the weights was not operating due to some of the electrical problems.”
They were stuck a little over halfway down from the surface. Rush decided they should try to dislodge the weights by rocking the submersible.
“So we proceeded to, all five of us, go from one side to the other in a swaying type motion, and then eventually, after a few attempts, we heard a clunk, and the first weight was dislodged.”
The Titan made it back to the surface in one piece, and Price was reassured that they’d been able to resolve the technical issues. He was confident enough to get back into the vehicle the next day for a second attempt. This time, the trip was a success.
Upon hearing the news of the Titan’s disappearance, Price’s first reaction was to hold out hope. Even after the issues on his own voyage, he had faith in Rush’s expertise – not just because of his technical background, but because he was so upfront about the submersible’s experimental build.
“He would look you right in the eye and say, this is not certified. He said, there’s no classification for it at this point, so we can’t get it certified,” Price said.
Price admitted that while his choice to go on the Titan may have been “short-sighted,” he weighed all the concerns and dangers against Rush’s “input and insight” before making the decision for himself.
“The people that attempt to go to Mount Everest, they take on that responsibility of knowing everyone doesn’t make it,” he said. “They have to make that decision to go or not.”
Las Vegas financier Jay Bloom, who was slated to go on the doomed Titan expedition this week, told KNX News that he pulled out because of his son’s safety concerns, which he said Rush dismissed as “uninformed.”
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