A chilling email has revealed how an ex-OceanGate insider feared the firm’s CEO Stockton Rush could get himself and others killed in a “quest to boost his ego”.
Rush was among the five passengers who died onboard the Titan submersible following an implosion near the wreckage of the Titanic on June 18.
OceanGate’s former marine operations director David Lochridge, who worked for the company between 2015 and 2018, was fired after raising concerns about the safety of the vessel.
Lochridge emailed project associate Rob McCallum, who joined him out the door over safety fears, shortly after he was dismissed.
An image of a Titan submarine used for such expeditions
OceanGate
“I don't want to be seen as a Tattle tale but I'm so worried he kills himself and others in the quest to boost his ego,” The New Yorker has claimed Lochridge wrote.
He added: “I would consider myself pretty ballsy when it comes to doing things that are dangerous, but that sub is an accident waiting to happen.
“There's no way on earth you could have paid me to dive the thing.”
Lochbridge previously found a litany of red flags during an inspection of the submersible.
OceanGate Expeditions, the company behind the much-watched missing Titanic tourist submarine, is navigated by a modified Logitech G F710 Wireless GamepadCBSThe former OceanGate staffer found glue was coming away at the seams of the vehicle's ballast bags.
The veteran diver also found issues with the submersible’s ceiling, including visible plunge holes.
He was later involved in legal disputes with OceanGate after claiming wrongful termination.
McCallum raised similar concerns about the Titan’s safety to Rush in 2018.
The Titanic tourist sub vanished in the Atlantic Ocean on SundayReuters“As much as I appreciate entrepreneurship and innovation, you are potentially putting an entire industry at risk,” McCallum told Rush.
The former OceanGate CEO dismissed his warnings as “baseless cries”.
Rush was killed when the Titan imploded alongside Hamish Harding, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Shahzada Dawood and Suleman Dawood.
The circumstances of how they came by their deaths is currently being investigated.
