Nearly a year after the catastrophic implosion of the Titan submersible a billionaire real estate investor has vowed to journey to the wreck of the Titanic in a new vessel in a daring attempt to prove deep sea expeditions are safe.
In June 2023, all five passengers on board an OceanGate submersible were killed when it suddenly imploded while underwater. The horrifying incident cast doubt on the safety of extreme underwater tourism.
Despite this, real estate mogul Larry Connor is undeterred from deep-sea exploration. He plans to descend 3,800 feet below the ocean's surface in a Triton submarine, alongside the company's CEO, Patrick Lahey, to the legendary Titanic wreck site.
READ MORE: Doomed Titan submarine dive was 'fraught with danger', says first Brit to dive to Titanic
Triton Submarines co-founder Patrick Lahey will go with him (Youtube)"He called me up and said, 'You know, what we need to do is build a sub that can dive to [Titanic-level depths] repeatedly and safely and demonstrate to the world that you guys can do that, and that Titan was a contraption,'" Patrick, co-founder and CEO of Triton, told The Wall Street Journal.
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He explained how the OceanGate submersible's implosion had a "chilling effect" on interest in Triton's submarines, reviving "old myths that only a crazy person" would venture into such depths. Larry, a client of Triton, was eager to initiate a project just days following the OceanGate disaster, Patrick noted.
Titan's hull imploded about 3,500m underwater (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)"I want to show people worldwide that while the ocean is extremely powerful, it can be wonderful and enjoyable and really kind of life-changing if you go about it the right way," Larry said. He added: "Patrick has been thinking about and designing this for over a decade. But we didn't have the materials and technology. You couldn't have built this sub five years ago."
The pair are set to embark on their journey in a $20milllion vessel named Triton 4000/2 Abyssal Explorer, although the exact date of this deep-sea adventure remains unknown.
OceanGate Expeditions CEO Stockton Rush died on the vessel he created (AP)Larry is worth a staggering $2 billion according to Forbes and already has an impressive list of adventures under his belt. He's been to space, raced cars, flown in a fighter jet and even holds the Guinness World Record for the highest HALO formation while skydiving, as per his company website. He's also explored the deepest parts of the oceans with Patrick in a Triton submersible.
The Titan submersible, which was designed to take tourists to the Titanic wreckage, had been heading approximately 2.5 miles below the surface of the North Atlantic Ocean to the site of the wreck when it suffered a "catastrophic" implosion on June 18, 2023.
All five Titan passengers perished (COURTESY OF THE DAWOOD FOUNDATION AND FAMILY)British entrepreneur Hamish Harding, Pakistani investor Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush were all killed. David Lochridge, OceanGate's former director of marine operations, had raised safety concerns before the incident and an investigation is still ongoing.
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David claimed in a 2018 lawsuit that he was fired after warning that the system used to test the hull wouldn't detect critical flaws and the failures could be catastrophic given the ocean pressure. OceanGate, which has halted operations, have said they are fully cooperating with the investigation.
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