The Titan submarine tragedy resulted in an unfortunate loss of five lives. It has instead turned into a cautionary tale of hubris and carelessness in the field of deep-sea exploration. The lost vessel, owned and operated by OceanGate, was on a mission to explore the wreckage of the Titanic when it imploded. Onboard, as rescuers would later learn, were British-Pakistani business mogul Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman, along with three other people. This incident has sparked an international outcry as details emerge about the safety concerns raised prior to the ill-fated dive.
The Titan had been roundly condemned for its ostensible disregard of safety protocols. In the days leading up to the expedition, passengers raised concerns about the submarine’s safety measures. Experts had similarly raised the alarm, including one person who sent a dozen precursor emails that were ignored. Yet, over objections and these clear warnings, CEO Stockton Rush went ahead and charged six-figure sums for the dive, showing a deeply concerning willful negligence to passenger safety.
Christine Dawood joined the families devastated by this tragedy. She’s always been very outspoken about all the lapses that led to this result. Her statement further illustrates the belief that Titan’s operators are to blame.
“We all know who the culprit is. [It] does not change anything, does it?” – Christine Dawood
Another contributor to these changes stated that she brought up safety concerns on-site. As she described it, her concerns were brushed off because everyone thought she didn’t have “an explorer mentality.” This dismissal points to a larger culture at OceanGate that seems to have favored ambition over safety—a factor that ultimately contributed to the tragic outcome.
As Titan’s fate unfolded, the world was riveted—four days’ worth of headlines gripped the globe after the submersible disappeared. In the following days, search efforts grew more focused and intense, eventually leading to the finding of debris from the submersible. Wendy Rush, Stockton Rush’s wife, had been on frequent communication with the mission’s support ship. A deafening noise would turn out to be the moment the Titan had its fatal catastrophic implosion.
As investigations proceed, one thing that we can be sure of is that, at the very least, Rush should have known the dangers of operating Titan. Experts and observers broadly agree that this incident was no accident. Instead, they feel that it was a totally avoidable and heartbreaking result of poor oversight and decision-making.