Oceangate Co-Founder Responds To Titanic Director James Cameron's Criticism Of Sub's Safety

OceanGate co-founder Guillermo S?hnlein defends late CEO Stockton Rush, one of the victims in the Titan implosion, against criticism from director James Cameron and others who raised concerns about the safety of the sub's carbon-fiber hull.

On Friday, S?hnlein spoke to U.K.'s Times Radio and said,

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"In this kind of community, there are completely different opinions and views about how to do things¡ªhow to design submersibles, how to engineer them, how to build them, how to operate in the dives."

"But one thing that¡¯s true of me and the other experts is that none of us were involved in the subs' design, engineering, building, testing, or even diving. So it¡¯s impossible for anyone to really speculate from the outside."

Guillermo S?hnlein, who co-founded OceanGate alongside Stockton Rush in 2009, actively participated in numerous dives during the company's initial stages.

However, S?hnlein departed from OceanGate in 2013 when Rush assumed the position of CEO.

Despite this, S?hnlein maintained a close friendship with Rush over the years and revealed on Facebook that they had spoken just weeks before the ill-fated expedition took place.

James Cameron, renowned for directing the Academy Award-winning film "Titanic" and his extensive ocean exploration, criticized using a carbon-fiber hull to construct the Titan.

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Cameron asserted that it was merely a matter of time before the hull would succumb to cracks due to the repetitive dives.

In contrast, in previous instances, Stockton Rush defended the choice of a carbon-fiber hull, citing its superior strength-to-buoyancy ratio compared to titanium.

"I was involved in the early phases of the overall development program during our predecessor subs to Titan, and I know from firsthand experience that we were extremely committed to safety and that risk mitigation was a key part of the company culture," S?hnlein told Times Radio Friday.

After an extensive and frantic multi-day search, it is sadly presumed that all passengers have been lost following the disappearance of a submersible carrying five individuals during a tour of the Titanic wreckage off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

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OceanGate Expeditions was responsible for operating the 21-foot deep-sea vessel.

It had lost contact approximately one hour and forty-five minutes after submerging on Sunday morning. The United States Coast Guard stated that the breathable air had been depleted by Thursday morning despite having a 96-hour oxygen supply.

The Coast Guard had been coordinating global search and rescue operations.

Following an extensive and frantic multi-day search, it is tragically presumed that all passengers were lost after the submersible, carrying five individuals, vanished during a tour of the Titanic wreckage off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

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