The family of a French explorer who died in a submarine implosion has filed a lawsuit for more than $50 million, alleging that the crew experienced “anxiety and mental anguish” before the disaster and accusing the submarine’s pilot of gross negligence.
Paul-Henri Nargeolet was one of five people who died when the Titan submarine imploded during a voyage to the famous Titanic wreck in the North Atlantic Ocean in June 2023. No one survived the journey aboard the experimental submarine operated by OceanGate, a Washington state company that has since ceased operations.
Known as “Mr. Titanic,” Nargeolet participated in 37 dives to the Titanic site, the most of any diver in the world, according to the lawsuit. He was considered one of the world’s most knowledgeable people about the famous wreck. Lawyers for his estate said in an emailed statement that the “doomed submarine” had a “troubled history” and that OceanGate failed to disclose key facts about the vessel and its durability.
According to the indictment, the Titan dropped weights approximately 90 minutes into the dive, indicating the team had aborted or attempted to abort the dive.
“While the exact cause of the failure may never be determined, experts agree that the Titan crew would have been fully aware of what was happening,” the lawsuit states. “Common sense dictates that the crew was fully aware they were going to die, before they died.”
The complaint continues: “The crew likely heard the cracking sound of carbon fibers growing in intensity as the weight of the water pressed down on Titan’s hull. The crew lost communications and perhaps power. According to expert calculations, they would have continued to descend, with full knowledge of the ship’s irreversible shortcomings, and would have experienced fear and mental anguish before Titan finally imploded.”
An OceanGate spokesman declined to comment on the lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday in King County, Washington. The defendants are due to file responses to the complaint in the coming weeks, according to court documents. The lawsuit describes Nargeolet as an OceanGate employee and a crew member on the Titan.
The lawsuit also criticizes Titan’s “slick, modern, wireless electronic system,” saying that none of the controllers, controls or meters would work without a constant power source and a wireless signal.
Although OceanGate identified Nargeolet as a crew member, “many details about the vessel’s defects and deficiencies were not disclosed and were deliberately concealed,” attorneys from the Houston, Texas-based Buzbee Law Firm said in their statement.
Tony Buzbee, one of the attorneys working on the case, said one of the goals of the lawsuit is to “get answers for the family about exactly how this happened, who was involved and how those involved allowed this to happen.”
After the disaster, concerns arose about whether Titan was doomed due to its unconventional design and its maker’s refusal to submit to industry-standard independent audits. The implosion also raised questions about the viability and future of private deep-sea exploration.
The U.S. Coast Guard quickly launched a high-level investigation, which is ongoing. A major public hearing as part of the investigation is scheduled for September.
The Titan made its final dive on June 18, 2023, a Sunday morning, and lost contact with its support ship about two hours later. After a search and rescue mission that attracted worldwide attention, the wreckage of the Titan was found on the ocean floor about 984 feet (300 meters) from the bow of the Titanic, about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland.
OceanGate CEO and co-founder Stockton Rush was operating the Titan when it imploded. The lawsuit describes Rush as “an eccentric and self-proclaimed ‘innovator’ in the deep-sea diving industry” and names his estate as one of the defendants.
In addition to Rush and Nargeolet, the implosion also killed British adventurer Hamish Harding and two members of a prominent Pakistani family: Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood.
The company that owns the Titanic salvage rights is making its first trip to the wreck site in years. Last month, RMS Titanic Inc., a Georgia-based company, launched its first expedition to the site since 2010 from Providence, Rhode Island.
Nargeolet was director of underwater research for RMS Titanic. He was part of an expedition to visit the Titanic site in 1987, shortly after the site was discovered, and had overseen the recovery of numerous Titanic artifacts, the lawsuit said. Lawyers for his estate described him as a seasoned veteran of underwater research who would not have participated in the Titan expedition if the company had been more transparent.
The lawsuit blames the implosion on the “continued negligence, recklessness and neglect” of Oceangate, Rush and others.
“The deceased Nargeolet may have died doing what he loved most, but his death – and the deaths of the other Titan crew members – were wrongful,” the lawsuit states.
