A lawsuit filed by one of the victims’ families has accused OceanGate of gross negligence

A wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of one of the Titan submersible victims makes a series of claims about the final moments of those on board.

French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, whose family have filed the lawsuit, was one of the five passengers on the OceanGate submersible when it imploded on 18 June, 2023.

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, British billionaire Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Sulaiman Dawood, also died after setting off into the Atlantic to try and see the Titanic shipwreck.

It wasn’t until the following day that a search was launched for the missing submersible, and on June 22, the US Coast Guard announced it had found a debris field in the search for the missile.

On Tuesday (August 6), Nargeolet’s family accused OceanGate, the operator of the vessel, of gross negligence and sued the company for $50 million.

The lawsuit makes a series of claims about the events that took place in the lead up to the implosion, including that Titan ‘dropped weights’ 90 minutes into its dive.

OceanGate has been accused of gross negligence. (David Ryder/Getty Images)

The decision to drop the weights indicates the crew had attempted to abort the dive, the lawsuit says, suggesting those on board were aware of a problem.

“While the exact cause of failure may never be determined, experts agree that the Titan’s crew would have realized exactly what was happening,” the lawsuit says, per the New York Post.

“Common sense dictates that the crew were well aware they were going to die, before dying.”

It continued: “The crew may well have heard the carbon fiber’s crackling noise grow more intense as the weight of the water pressed on Titan’s hull. The crew lost communications and perhaps power as well.

“By experts’ reckoning, they would have continued to descend, in full knowledge of the vessel’s irreversible failures, experiencing terror and mental anguish prior to the Titan ultimately imploding.”

Paul-Henri Nargeolet had visited the wreckage before. (JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images)

Nargeolet had previously traveled down to the wreckage of the Titanic, but his family accused OceanGate failed to warn him about the durability of the Titan submersible before his final trip.

Had he known more details about the submersible, Nargeolet would not have taken part in the expedition, the lawsuit claims.

“Decedent Nargeolet may have died doing what he loved to do, but his death — and the deaths of the other Titan crew members — was wrongful,” the lawsuit concludes.

OceanGate must respond to the complaint in the coming weeks.