OceanGate Expeditions announced that it is suspending all explorations and commercial operations related to its business after its Titan submersible imploded, killing five people on board on June 18.
Titan Five, as the last passengers of the doomed submersible have been infamously named, included OceanGate’s CEO, Stockton Rush. The other four were British billionaire Hamish Harding, British-Pakistani-British businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, and French pilot Paul-Henry Nargeolet.
The suspension message is up on its website in red letters in the top left corner of the homepage. Only last week, OceanGate was still advertising trips to the Titanic wreckage, which is located 12,000 feet under the Atlantic Ocean.
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Two more missions for June 2024 were scheduled for June on the deep-sea adventure company website previously, inviting passengers for the expensive ride. As a form of promoting its ride, OceanGate touted that the 2023 mission was underway. Future customers were urged to reach out for dates regarding the upcoming expeditions.
The company also boasted about the fact that passengers who sign up could be joined by famed French diver Nargeolet – who was one of the people on board the doomed Titan submersible.
After two hours into what was supposed to be a two-hour dive to the most renowned shipwreck in the world, the OceanGate submersible lost touch with the support ship above the water.
The US Coast Guard discovered five significant pieces of the 22-foot vessel among the debris, including the tail cone and two parts of the pressure hull. US and Canadian authorities are now focused on figuring out why a submarine transporting tourists to the Titanic site imploded deep in the North Atlantic.
The five presumed dead, according to industry experts, are the first known fatalities in more than 60 years of civilian deep-sea submersion.
