A wealthy financier who claims to have turned down repeat invites to participate in Sunday’s dive on a Titanic touring submersible has shared text messages that he said he exchanged with the company’s now-late CEO, who allegedly defended the vessel as safer than scuba diving.
Jay Bloom said he initially planned to snag two seats for himself and his son on OceanGate Exploration’s Titan submersible in May, but there were several weather delays, and his son got nervous about the risks involved.
“Both May dives were postponed due to weather, and the dive got delayed until June 18th, the date of this trip,” Bloom wrote on Facebook Thursday.
The company’s CEO and co-founder, Stockton Rush, who authorities said was killed when the Titan imploded during its miles-long descent, reportedly offered him a discounted price and assured him that the dive was safe. He even offered a video call with his son to discuss his concerns.
“While there’s obviously risk, it’s way safer than flying in a helicopter or even scuba diving. There hasn’t been even an injury in 35 years in a non-military subs,” one text message apparently attributed to Rush reads.
Rush made similar comments in an interview with the Smithsonian in 2019, criticising safety regulations as stifling innovation in the commercial sub-industry.
“He was absolutely convinced that it was safer than crossing the street,” Bloom said of Rush in his Facebook post.
Ultimately Bloom dropped out of this month’s dive, citing a scheduling conflict, and Bloom said his two seats were given to Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman Dawood. The father and son were among the five people killed.
Suleman’s aunt has since said that the teen, like Bloom’s son, was fearful and reluctant about making the dive but that he ultimately agreed to do it since it was Father’s Day.
“Tomorrow is never promised. Make the most of today,” Bloom concluded in his post.
Authorities have said that an investigation remains underway into what happened to the submersible. However, safety concerns about its design and capabilities have continued to surface since it first vanished.
Previous passengers have detailed constant issues with the submersible while making or attempting to make the dive. A former OceanGate employee also warned in 2018 that the vessel was unsafe and needed more testing before it could safely ferry people to the “extreme depths”, according to a lawsuit.
Passengers have said they were thoroughly warned about the risk of death before embarking, with them reportedly forced to sign waivers that mentioned the possibility several times.