- Stockton Rush once downplayed a loud bang heard coming from the Titan submersible.
- On BBC's "The Travel Show," Rush said: "Almost every deep-diving sub makes a noise at some point."
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush once downplayed a loud bang heard from the Titan submersible, saying that most deep-sea vessels made noises.
Rush talked to crew and passengers about the Titan sub and its voyages to the Titanic wreck before a dive in 2022, as seen last year on an episode of the BBC's "The Travel Show." During the speech, Rush told passengers that the trek to visit the wreckage 12,500 feet below the Atlantic Ocean's surface would be dangerous.
"It's an open book here," Rush said while speaking with workers and the passengers and opening the floor for questions. "We want everyone going into this fully informed. This is an experimental sub. This is a dangerous environment."
But when Rush began telling a story about a crew member hearing a loud bang while the sub was on the surface, he dismissed it as nothing to be too concerned about.
"Not a soothing sound, but on the surface," he said, "almost every deep-diving sub makes a noise at some point."
It's unclear where the bang came from, but former OceanGate employees and industry professionals had warned Rush about their safety issues with OceanGate's "experimental" Titan sub, including its carbon-fiber hull, glue coming away from the seams of its ballast bags, and a highly flammable floor.
One former passenger said the sub had issues with its thrusters, computers, and communicators, which required "more time or more work" to complete its dives. But Rush never had the Titan sub classed to see whether it met industry standards, saying he was pushing ahead to further "innovation."
The Titan sub imploded during a trip to the wreck of the Titanic last month. All five people aboard the voyage, including Rush, were killed.