OceanGate sub passenger claims CEO 'made light' of systems failure

A documentary cameraman who took a test-dive in the Titan submersible said OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush "made light of" a systems failure that happened during the test.

Brian Weed, a camera operator for the Discovery Channel series Expedition Unknown, told the Associated Press that Stockton got "flustered" when the vessel's communication systems went offline and its propulsion system failed during a May 2021 test-dive at shallow depths.

"You could tell that he was flustered and not really happy with the performance," Weed said of Rush. "But he was trying to make light of it, trying to make excuses."

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

It comes after all five passengers on the Titan, including Rush himself, were declared dead after the submersible imploded during a dive to the Titanic shipwreck last week.

Prior to the discovery it had imploded, rescuers conducted a desperate search for the submersible, fearing passengers inside would run out of oxygen.

Weed and his team were working on a documentary project featuring the OceanGate submersible. But the team decided not to take a full dive because of safety concerns.

"I felt like every time the vessel goes down, it's going to get weaker and weaker," Weed told the AP. "And that's a little bit like playing Russian roulette."

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.