Titanic submarine: Tycoon refuses seats on OceanGate submarine over safety concerns | US News

A billionaire has revealed how he gave up an opportunity to take his son aboard the Titanic submarine that was imploding in the Atlantic.

Jay Bloom has shared a series of text messages he exchanged with Stockton Rush, the CEO of Titan ship’s operating company, who was one of five dead in the tragedy.

The Las Vegas tycoon turned down discounted seats offered to him by OceanGate boss Mr. Rush after he raised concerns about Titan’s safety.

During their talks, Mr Rush told Mr Bloom that traveling to the sunken ocean liner 12,500ft below the surface was “safer than crossing the road”.

Despite being offered the ‘last minute’ price of £120,000 each – instead of the usual £195,000 – Mr Bloom and his son Sean decided against the trip.

Businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman took their place and tragically perished along with British explorer Hamish Harding and French Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

In a post on Facebook, Mr Bloom shared screenshots of the chats he had with Mr Rush, who insisted there was nothing to worry about.

Mr Bloom wrote: “In February Stockton asked me and my son Sean to join him on the Titanic dive in May.”

“Both May dives were rescheduled due to weather and the dive was delayed until June 18, the date of this trip.”

“I raised safety concerns and Stockton told me, ‘While there’s obviously a risk, it’s a lot safer than flying in a helicopter or even scuba diving.’ There hasn’t been a casualty on a non-military submarine in 35 years .”

“I’m sure he really believed what he said. But he was very wrong. “He believed passionately in what he was doing.”

Mr Bloom said he last saw Mr Rush in person on March 1 this year when the two went to the Titanic exhibition at the Luxor Las Vegas Hotel for lunch.

He continued, “Over lunch at the Luxor Food Court, we talked about the dive, including safety. He firmly believed that it was safer than crossing the street.

“He gave me a book of photos (1 of 324 produced) signed by himself and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, two of the five on board the sub. I told him that we couldn’t go until next year for scheduling reasons.

“Our seats went to Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood, two of the other three who lost their lives on that outing.”

Mr Rush even told Mr Bloom he would like to video call his son Sean to discuss his safety concerns.

In one text, he said: “It’s curious what the uninformed would say about the danger and whether it’s real or imagined.”

In the wake of the deadly disaster, several experts have condemned the expedition’s lack of safety, including Titanic film director James Cameron.

Mr Cameron, who has visited the famous shipwreck himself 30 times, slammed the operation and the “awful irony” by comparing it to the Titanic sinking in 1912, which claimed 1,500 lives.

He told ABC News, “We now have another tragedy which unfortunately relies on the same principles of not heeding warnings.” OceanGate has been warned. People in the community were very concerned about this submarine.

“Some of the top players in the deep diving community even wrote letters to the company saying their work was too experimental to carry passengers and they needed to be certified and so on.”

“That a very similar tragedy, with warnings ignored, happened in the exact same place, with all the diving that’s happening around the world, I just find it amazing.” It’s actually quite surreal.’

US Coast Guard officials confirmed yesterday that the Titan submersible was destroyed by a “catastrophic implosion” that was “consistent with loss of hyperbaric chamber.”

A large debris field was found about 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic wreck, including the sub’s nose cone.

Underwater expert Paul Hankin said, “We found five different large pieces of debris that told us they were Titan’s remains.”

“The first thing we found was the nose cone, which was outside of the pressure hull. Then we found a large debris field.

“In this large debris field we found the front bell of the pressure hull. That was the first indication that it was a catastrophic event.

“Shortly thereafter we found a second smaller debris field.” Within this debris field we found the other end of the pressure hull – the aft end bell – which essentially encompasses the entirety of this pressure vessel.

“We continue to map the debris field and as the admiral said we will do our best to fully map what is down there.”

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