The company OceanGate announced this Thursday the suspension of all its operations exploration and commercial operations after the death of five people, including the company’s CEO, during his expedition to the wreck of the Titanic in June.
OceanGate, based in Everett, Washington, announced the decision on its website, two weeks after the tragedy where the submarine lost contact with its parent ship off Newfoundland, triggering a massive search that caught the attention of the entire world.
OceanGate, founded in 2009, offered tourists the opportunity to travel in submersibles to the depths of the ocean to see wrecks and underwater canyons up close.
On June 18, his Titan submersible went missing while on a high-seas voyage to the Titanic. The ship suffered a “catastrophic implosion” and all five of its passengers died.
On board were pilot and chief executive Stockton Rush, along with passengers Shahzada Dawood and her son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
The accident occurred the same Sunday that the authorities lost contact with the ship.
The Coast Guard representative reported at a press conference in Boston that a remote-controlled robot had discovered “the nose cone, which was outside the pressure room” about 1,500 feet off the bow of the Titanic, on the seabed.
The remains of the missing OceanGate submersible, including the tail cone, were found on the ocean floor about 1,600 feet off the bow of the wrecked Titanic.
Los recovered remains contained “presumed human remains,” according to the United States Coast Guard.
More fragments were later found in the area, and after analysis it was determined that they were consistent “with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber”.
OceanGate he had made more than 14 expeditions and more than 200 dives throughout the Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, according to the company’s website.
A seat on his submersible to view the wreckage of the Titanic cost $250,000 per passenger.
