OceanGate, the underwater expedition company that owns the missing ‘Titan’ vessel, released a statement this afternoon regarding the submersible’s fate after the discovery of debris within the rescue team’s search radius.
In a somber message, the company acknowledged and grieved the loss of its CEO Stockton Rush, as well as the other passengers aboard the ill-fated expedition.
“We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost,” the company said in a statement.
“These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans,” according to the statement. “Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew.”
BREAKING: OceanGate, which operated the submersible touring the Titanic just released a statement:
“We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost,” the company said in a… pic.twitter.com/0Ft96WEEjJ
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) June 22, 2023
U.S. Coast Guard officials announced the sad news as well shortly afterward. “The debris is consistent with a catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber. Upon this determination, we immediately notified the families.”
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Five people were aboard the submersible on the expedition, which cost $250,000 per person. OceanGate trips travel as deep as 13,000 feet below the surface to tour the wreckage of the ‘Titanic.’
Earlier today, the New York Times reported on a chilling connection that OceanGate’s now-deceased CEO Stockton Rush shares with first-class passengers of the ill-fated ‘Titanic.’
The wife of Rush is related to two victims of the ‘Titanic’ sinking. Wendy Rush, the great-great-granddaughter of Isidor and Ida Straus, finds herself inextricably linked to a maritime mystery that mirrors her ancestors’ tragic fate.
Stockton Rush launched OceanGate in 2009 to fulfill his lifelong dream of exploration, a dream rooted not in the stars, but in the ocean’s abyss. The company’s mission statement reflects Rush’s belief in the sea as the future of humanity, asserting that mankind’s survival, if the Earth’s surface becomes uninhabitable, lies beneath the ocean waves.
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