$50 Million Lawsuit Filed by Family of Titanic Submersible Victim

Lawyers argue that the victim was unaware of the "troubled history of the doomed submersible."

The family of French deep sea explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet has filed a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit against OceanGate, the privately-owned company that operated the Titan submersible which sank during an expedition to visit the sunken wreckage of the Titanic in June 2023.

Nargeolet, 77, known by his nickname "Mr. Titanic," was one of five people who perished aboard the craft, including OceanGate CEO and cofounder Stockton Rush, British adventurer Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, and his 19-year-old son, Sulaiman Dawood. The story captured attention from around the world after the submersible lost contact shortly after embarking on the June 18 mission.

Four days later, after a harrowing search and rescue mission to reach the passengers before the oxygen supply ran out, the U.S. Coast Guard revealed the discovery of an underwater debris field near the wreckage of the Titanic, indicating that the submersible had likely imploded and that there were no survivors.

Although Nargeolet had been to the site more than three dozen times, and had also been part of the first first human expedition to visit the shipwreck back in 1987, the lawsuit argues that he would not have participated if he had been aware of the "troubled history of the doomed submersible." According to the lawsuit, filed in Washington state on Tuesday, OceanGate and Rush failed to disclose "key facts" about the condition and durability of the Titan.

"The lawsuit alleges serious issues with the Titan submersible," said Tony Buzbee, one of the attorneys repressing the family in the suit, in a statement. "I think it is telling that even though the University of Washington and Boeing had key roles in the design of previous but similar versions of the Titan, both have recently disclaimed any involvement at all in the submersible model that imploded."

"We are hopeful that through this lawsuit we can get answers for the family as to exactly how this happened, who all were involved, and how those involved could allow this to happen," Buzbee added.

Just weeks after the tragedy, OceanGate announced that it would be ceasing all operations, though it was unclear at the time if the company would eventually resume, as the Titan was just one of several submarines that OceanGate owned. In the year that followed, more information came to light about the disaster, including the decidedly laid-back attitude that Rush had displayed just weeks before the mission.

In a radio interview just weeks before the launch, Rush explained that they had decided to launch in June when the waters around the shipwreck were apparently the "calmest," even joking at one point: "What could go wrong?"

Following the accident, the U.S. Coast Guard launched a high-level investigation into the disaster, which cost millions in taxpayer funds. A long-awaited public hearing is likewise set to take place in September as part of the ongoing investigation.