Name: Submersible CEO dismissed safety concerns
Uploaded: 2023-06-24T05:43:02.920Z
Duration: 2 min 40 s
Description: Emails by OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush show he took safety concerns as a personal insult rather than acting on them. He also threatened the person raising the concerns, Rob McCallum, with legal action if he went public.

Emails by OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush show he took safety concerns as a personal insult rather than acting on them. He also threatened the person raising the concerns, Rob McCallum, with legal action if he went public.

St. John's

Crews have found the wreckage of a submersible that vanished on an expedition to the wreck of the Titanic, with all five onboard killed.

Titanic Submersible

Submersible CEO dismissed safety concerns

When the Titan was in its early stages its creators had support from a leading deep-sea ocean expert until they didn't. Once the decision was made not to class the vehicle not to get the vehicle certified I ended my association with Ocean Gates. We caught up with Rob McCallum out at sea. He told us he flagged his concerns about the Titan to Ocean Gates CEO Stockton Rush back in 2018. Once Stockton had made the decision to use carbon fiber he was never going to get certified. It's never going to be an approved material. He emailed Rush. The response, we have heard the baseless cries of you are going to kill someone way too often. I take this as a serious personal insult. Did you ever think about going public with this information? Stockton threatened me with legal action if I went any further with my course of action. Rush was among those killed in what officials say was a catastrophic implosion. It's just tragic and it's horrific and it's unnecessary. Titanic filmmaker James Cameron says Rush asked him if he wanted to dive with him this season. Cameron wasn't interested. Ocean Gates shouldn't have been doing what it was doing. I think that's pretty clear. Though multiple countries were involved in the search Canada's Transportation Safety Board says it is the investigative authority because the submersible's mother ship, the Polar Prince, sails under the Canadian flag. But the investigation will take time. Especially when people in this case have lost their lives. So there's ramifications. Ocean Gates co-founder says Rush was committed to safety. One of the risks that the community takes every time it operates is that if there is some sort of catastrophic failure the general public will backlash. Many in the small city of St. John's, now the center of global attention, are reeling. Absolutely heartbroken. It's a big tragedy. We're all feeling it, believe me. And the investigation is only just beginning. Kayla, what else do we know about the investigation? We don't have a lot of details at this point, Anita. I can tell you TSB investigators have arrived here in St. John's to begin gathering information and conducting interviews. Also, two ships involved in the search have just returned here behind me. And the Polar Prince, which towed the Titan out to sea, is also on its way back into port here in St. John's. Thanks, Kayla.

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Titanic Submersible