The head of a company that offers tours to the Titanic wreck site revealed his worries about the trip in a previous interview, but said he was confident it was safe. The tour submersible, with five people on board including the CEO, went missing on Sunday after losing contact with the surface ship.
The missing submersible belongs to OceanGate Expeditions, a company that charges $250,000 per person for an eight-day voyage to see the Titanic remains at 12,500 feet below sea level. The crew included Stockton Rush, the CEO and founder of OceanGate, French explorer PH Nargeolet, British businessman Hamish Harding, and Pakistani tycoon Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood.
In an earlier interview, Rush stressed the safety and readiness of the crew and the submersible, saying they had enough oxygen to survive. However, he also admitted there were risks involved. He said, “You know, there’s a limit. You know, at some point, safety just is pure waste. I mean, if you just want to be safe, don’t get out of bed.” He added that he believed they could do the mission safely by breaking some rules and taking calculated risks.
He also said his main concern was not being able to return to the surface. He said they had to avoid obstacles such as overhangs, fish nets, and entanglement hazards by using careful piloting skills.
