‘You’re dead anyway’: what OceanGate’s CEO told the terrified passenger on the Titan submarine

A documentary cameraman who made a test dive in the doomed Titan submarine has recounted how the company’s CEO said “very strange” things, including what would happen if they got lost while bolted to the ship.

Brian Weed was working for the Discovery Channel TV show ‘Expedition Unknown’ in May 2021 when he boarded the Titan submarine that imploded last month.

Once on board, Weed told Insider about a “very strange” conversation he had with Stockton Rush aboard the Titan.

He said, ‘Well, there’s oxygen on board for four or five days, and I said, ‘What if they don’t find you?’ And he said, “Well, you’re dead anyway.”

Weed continued, “It felt very strange to think, and it almost seemed like a nihilistic life-or-death attitude in the middle of the ocean.”

Weed said Rush’s attitude to “basic security” was “arrogant” and that he felt “uncomfortable” from the start.

The test dive was plagued with mechanical and communication problems and had to be aborted, he said.

“That whole dive made me very uncomfortable with the idea of ​​going down to the depths of the Titanic in that submarine,” Weed recalls, adding that it just didn’t feel safe.

Weed backed out of the documentary project due to security concerns, and production of ‘Expedition Unknown’ was later canceled as well.

Rush died aboard the submarine, which along with four others imploded last month while descending to see the wreckage of the Titanic.

On board was one of Pakistan’s richest men, Shahzada Dawood, along with his son Suleman, British billionaire Hamish Harding and French explorer Paul-Henry Nargeolet.

The submarine lost communication with its operator, OceanGate Expeditions, less than two hours after its dive to the famous shipwreck last month, with five people on board.

A large-scale rescue operation involving aircraft and a fleet of vessels had scrambled to the area 400 miles southeast of Newfoundland, Canada, as oxygen supplies in the submarine dwindled.

It was then announced that the five men on board died instantly after the submarine suffered a ‘catastrophic implosion’.

Last week, the submarine’s debris was towed ashore in St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada.

Weed’s comments come after an unnamed CFO who worked at OceanGate said she had been asked to take control of the doomed Titan.

The unnamed staffer said that after chief pilot David Lochridge was fired in 2018 for raising safety concerns, she couldn’t trust the late CEO Stockton Rush.

She told the New Yorker, “It shocked me that he wanted me to be chief pilot, since I have an accounting background, so I couldn’t work for Stockton.”

Lochridge was fired in 2018 after OceanGate disagreed with his demand for stricter safety checks on the submarine, including “testing to prove its integrity.”

On Thursday, OceanGate — which charged passengers $250,000 to make the journey to the Titanic wreck — announced it has suspended operations.

Researchers believe the Titan imploded as it descended into the deep North Atlantic on June 18.

The Coast Guard said last week human remains were likely recovered from the submarine’s wreckage and are being examined by US medical officials.

Remotely operated vehicles known as ROVs were used to submerge the debris from the ocean floor about 12,500 feet and a ship later brought pieces of the wreckage to a port in Canada to be examined.

The debris was found about 500 meters away from the Titanic.

The U.S. Coast Guard has convened a Marine Board of Investigation, the highest level of investigation into the implosion, and plans to hold a public hearing in the future. The Coast Guard did not respond to an email request for comment on Thursday.

In its Thursday statement, OceanGate said it has “suspended all exploration and commercial operations,” but did not elaborate.

The site still featured a photo of the Titanic wreck along with the slogan “explore the most famous shipwreck in the world,” but it was unable to book a trip and some of the site’s other features were broken.

An OceanGate spokesman, Andrew Von Kerens, said later Thursday that the company is not releasing any additional information.

OceanGate is based in Everett, Washington, and OceanGate Expeditions, a related company that led the dives from Titan to Titanic, is registered in the Bahamas.

The multi-day search and eventual salvage of the debris from the 22-foot (6.7-meter) ship drew attention around the world.

Legal experts have said they expect relatives of the dead to file lawsuits not only against OceanGate, but against the Titan’s maker and companies that supplied parts.

But shutting down OceanGate completely will certainly reduce their options, said Richard Daynard, a distinguished professor at Northeastern University School of Law.

“There is essentially no chance of recovering damages” from the company once it is no longer in business, he said.

In addition, the passengers were most likely asked to sign liability affidavits. One of the waivers, signed by a person planning to go on an OceanGate expedition, stated that passengers on the Titan could experience physical harm, disability, emotional trauma, and death.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is conducting a safety investigation into the Titan’s Canadian-flagged mothership, the Polar Prince. Security Council officials did not respond to email requests for comment on Thursday.