The crew of the doomed Titan submersible knew they were going to die before it imploded near the ocean floor, according to a $50 million lawsuit filed by the estate of Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
Nargeolet was a French explorer and part of the five-person crew that boarded the vessel, operated by OceanGate, to view the wreckage of the Titanic, which is about 12,500 feet below the water. The crew was killed when the submersible imploded under the intense pressure at the bottom of the ocean.
The lawsuit claims that the crew members knew something was wrong about 90 minutes into their trip to the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.
“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, according to CNN. “Common sense dictates that the crew were well aware they were going to die, before dying.”
“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,” the lawsuit continues. “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 lawsuit accuses OceanGate, which suspended operations following the tragedy, of hiding potential flaws in the submersible’s design and cutting corners on safety.
“Many of the particulars about the vessel’s flaws and shortcomings were not disclosed and were purposely concealed,” the Buzbee Law Firm of Houston, Texas, said in a statement.
The lawyers added that they want to “get answers for the family as to exactly how this happened, who all were involved, and how those involved could allow this to happen.”
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