The family of ‘Mr. Titanic’ seeks $50 million over Titan implosion
Summary
French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet’s family alleges in a wrongful-death lawsuit that OceanGate ignored warnings about the submersible.The family of a French explorer who died last year on an expedition to the Titanic has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the submersible’s operator OceanGate, alleging gross negligence.
Paul-Henri Nargeolet, who was known as “Mr. Titanic" and was a leading expert on the ship, was one of five people on board who died in the implosion. His family is seeking at least $50 million in damages in a complaint filed Tuesday in Washington state against OceanGate.
“The catastrophic implosion that claimed Nargeolet’s life was due directly to the persistent carelessness, recklessness and negligence," the lawsuit said.
OceanGate, which has shut down operations, declined to comment.
The U.S. Coast Guard said the vessel is believed to have suffered a catastrophic implosion while traveling to the Titanic’s wreckage. The Titan lost contact after the dive began, setting off an urgent search for the submersible.
A top secret military acoustic detection system heard what the U.S. Navy suspected to be the Titan’s implosion shortly after the submersible disappeared, The Wall Street Journal previously reported.
The lawsuit alleges that the crew experienced “terror and mental anguish" before the Titan imploded.
“Common sense dictates that the crew were well aware they were going to die, before dying," the suit said.
Nargeolet spent 22 years in the French navy. In 1986, he retired from the Navy and joined a French-run institute focused on the exploration of the sea, where he developed a passion for the wreckage of the Titanic. He completed more than three dozen dives to the site of the wreckage and supervised the recovery of thousands of artifacts from the debris field around it.
