Off The Record
Father And Son That Who Pulled Out Of Doomed Titan Trip Issue Chilling Comment
A father and son told CNN they bowed out of riding the deadly Titan submersible weeks before it exploded for safety reasons.
Both investor Jay Bloom and his son Sean expressed apprehension about the submersible’s capabilities before the upcoming expedition.
The seats were eventually given to Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, a father and son who were among the five people killed when the ship exploded.
“I saw a lot of red flags. It was only meant for five people. I just did not think that it can survive going that low into the ocean,” Sean, 20, told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Friday evening.
He recalls watching a video of Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate, the business that runs the depth expedition.
Rush was seen in the film exploring the various compartments and equipment of the submersible.
“Ultimately I ended up warning my dad about it, and he ended up agreeing with me,” he said.
Titan was a submersible that took the well-to-do to the site of the Titanic’s sinking, some 12,500 feet below the ocean’s surface.
Five people were killed instantaneously when it imploded under the immense forces of the deep sea.
The other passengers were French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, British businessman Hamish Harding, and Rush.
‘Different risk appetite’
Jay Bloom said it was “very surreal” to out what happened to the Titan.
“The most haunting thing about it is when you look at the news, hopping on my laptop and social media, television, it was everywhere,” he said.
During their conversations, he told Rush that he had been promised passage on the ship for the May voyage.
— OceanGate Expeditions (@OceanGateExped) June 22, 2023
He said that Rush had flown to Las Vegas in March to pressure him into making the purchase.
Jay remembered that his apprehensions were compounded when the CEO arrived in a two-seater experimental plane that Jay had built.
“I started to think about it. He’s coming in on a two-seater experimental plane to pitch me to go on a five-seater experimental sub that he has built down to the ocean floor to see the Titanic,” Jay said.
“He has a different risk appetite than I do,” he said. “I’m a pilot. I have my helicopter pilots license. I would not get into an experimental aircraft.”
Authorities are still searching the ocean below for clues, hoping that one day they may find anything that will help them piece together what happened.
On Friday, officials in both Canada and the United States said they will investigate the collapse.
However, it is not known if the Transportation Safety Board of Canada and the US Coast Guard would conduct a joint investigation or two separate ones at the same time.
Jay claimed he still can’t shake the regret he felt about not going.
“All I could see when I saw that father and son was myself and my son, that could’ve been us,” Jay said.
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