A passenger aboard the support ship for the Titan submersible that imploded on an excursion to the Titanic has told of the horror he felt as he learned of the crew’s fate.
Rory Golden was a member of the OceanGate expedition team and was aboard the Titan’s support ship, the Polar Prince, to give a presentation when the vessel lost contact with the submersible.
He told the BBC that when communications initially broke down, no one was concerned as temporary comms blackouts are commonplace in deep-sea excursions.
‘But when the alarm was finally raised, that’s when we realised that there were some serious issues.
‘We had this image in our heads of them being down there, running out of oxygen in the freezing cold, getting terribly frightened and scared,’ he said – but later added it was comforting to know the crew died almost instantly.
Golden’s comments come just over a year after the disaster claimed the lives of OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, 61, Hamish Hardin, 58, and Paul Henry Nargeolet, 77, along with father-and-son duo Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, who were aged 47 and 19.
The expedition, which cost £250,000 per ticket, met a sudden end when the Titan submersible imploded under intense pressure in the depths of the North Atlantic.
Golden (L) is pictured with his friend Paul Henry Nargeolet – one of the Titan crew members who lost his life when the submersible imploded in the North Atlantic
The submersible vessel named Titan used to visit the wreckage site of the Titanic
Debris from the Titan submersible, recovered from the ocean floor near the wreck of the Titanic, is unloaded from the ship Horizon Arctic at the Canadian coast guard pier in St John’s, Newfoundland
Golden, who had previously made a dive himself on the Titan sub a year before the disaster, went on to explain how the support ship spent four days clinging to false hope that the crew could be rescued after banging sounds were detected underwater shortly after they went missing.
‘We lived in false hope for four days,’ Golden said. ‘There’s still a lot of questions to be answered.’
In the days after the Titan’s disappearance, there was hope that control of the vessel had been lost and that rescue teams would be able to raise it before oxygen on the small craft ran out.
Rescuers rushed ships, planes and other equipment to the area, about 435 miles south of St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada.
But the wreckage of the Titan was subsequently found on the ocean floor about 300 metres off the bow of the Titanic.
It was later determined that the experimental submersible imploded en route to the Titanic, killing all five people on board almost immediately.
It was revealed earlier this week that the US coastguard will hold a long-awaited public hearing about the disaster in September as it continues its investigation into the implosion of the vessel.
The purpose of the hearing will be to ‘consider evidence related to the loss of the Titan submersible’, and the marine board is expected to issue a report with evidence, conclusions and recommendations when its investigation is finished.
Golden personally knew several members of the crew and said he was very close in particular with French diver Paul Henry Nargeolet.
But Nargeolet’s daughter Sidonie, 40, in June said bosses from the firm behind the ill-fated expedition had not bothered to contact her to offer their condolences or even apologise for her father’s death aboard the Titan.
The American privately owned business ceased operations in July 2023, weeks after the tragedy that killed millionaire CEO Rush.
Sidonie Nargeolet, 40, says she has heard ‘nothing’ from OceanGate in the year since her 77-year-old father Paul-Henri Nergeolet was killed in the Titan sub disaster
The French deep sea explorer and Titanic expert was one of five killed when the submersible suffered a ‘catastrophic implosion’
Sidonie Nargeolet with her father Paul Henri-Nargeolet who died on the Titan sub trip
Speaking to 60 Minutes Australia, Sidonie, wearing a blue T-shirt with a picture of a deep-sea diver on the front, said: ‘[I’ve heard] nothing from them [OceanGate]. No condolences, no “we are sorry”. Nothing.’
She agreed it was ‘extraordinary’ not to have heard from any OceanGate representatives.
An emotional Sidonie broke down as she recalled how her hopes of finding her beloved father alive were ended when news broke four days into the search that the sub had suffered a ‘catastrophic implosion’.
Wiping away a tear, she said: ‘In a way I had hope, very small, but of him being alive.
‘In a way it’s more difficult because it is hope for nothing but in a way during four days [I thought] he was still alive.’
She told the Sunday Times her father died doing his favourite thing and passed away ‘healthy with his mind intact’.
When she last spoke to him as he arrived on the Polar Prince – the ship from which the sub launched – he was ‘happy’.
But at 6am the next morning, she was told that the Titan was missing.
Sidonie slammed OceanGate and claimed it not only ceased communication with her, but with the families of all those who died.
‘That is not normal. The least they could have done is offer their condolences,’ she said.
