$50 Million Titan Sub Lawsuit: Crew “Knew” They Were Going to Die

June 18th, 2023, the world was riveted on the search for the Ocean Gate submarine Titan, which was headed to the wreck of the Titanic in the Atlantic Ocean, but had disappeared.

    Family of French explorer who died files $50 million dollar lawsuit

Ocean Gate, an Everett WA-based company, had been conducting dives in its various small submersibles down to the wreck of the Titanic for several years.

Last June, the sub began another trip, with five people on board, including noted French explorer and diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet who was known as "Mr. Titanic," but about two hours into the descent, all contact with the sub Titan was lost.

After a massive search, the wreckage was found on the ocean floor near the shipwreck. Ocean Gate, whose operations have been shut down since the gruesome discovery, has not commented on the $50 million dollar suit.

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According to CNN, the suit says based on evidence, the passengers had to know they were doing to die. The suit claims the sub dropped weights in an effort to surface, due to some sort of issue. The sub imploded, the sound of the explosion was later said to have been picked up by US Naval monitoring equipment.

According to CNN:

"According to the lawsuit, the Titan “dropped weights” about 90 minutes into its dive, indicating the team had aborted or attempted to abort the dive.

“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. “Common sense dictates that the crew were well aware they were going to die, before dying.”

 It also says they likely heard the cracking of its carbon fiber hull before it imploded. The suit and the investigation point to criticism made of Ocean Gate's controversial methods of construction, and how they ran their dive program.  The suit also says it is meant to provide answers and closure for the other relatives and friends of the other victims.