Father and son share 'red flags' that led them to turn down Titanic sub trip

Jay Bloom and his son Sean had planned to visit the Titanic shipwreck in the Titan sub but decided not to go after seeing some 'red flags'.

They also claimed OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush had tried to convince them to go ahead with the voyage, which came with a $250,000 price tag per person.

Rush was one of five passengers killed when the Titan sub imploded during a recent attempt to visit the wreckage off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, having ventured down with Hamish Harding, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Shahzada Dawood and Suleman Dawood.

OceanGate

After the tiny submersible lost contact with crew on the surface less than two hours into its descent to the wreck of the Titanic, a huge search and rescue operation was launched.

Despite the best efforts of the US Coast Guard and other organisations, on Thursday (22 June), it was revealed that debris had been found in the search area.

The Coast Guard stated that the most likely scenario was that the vessel, named Titan, had suffered a ‘catastrophic implosion’, and that everyone on board had died.

Jay and Sean had been thinking about going on a similar trip with the company, but decided to hold off after having a number of ‘safety concerns’.

CNN

Speaking to CNN, Sean said: “Before the news initially broke and we were thinking about going on the submarine ourselves, one of the safety concerns I had before getting on was literally about the structural integrity of the submarine.

“Before we got on, I saw a video of Stockton explaining how the submarine worked with the [video game] remote and everything and I saw a lot of red flags with it, and it was only meant for five people.

“I just didn’t think it could survive going that low into the ocean, so ultimately I ended up warning my dad about it and he ended up agreeing with me.”

Sean said he then tried to ask Stockton questions, but claims the CEO ‘kind of brushed it off a little bit’.

Jay added: “I think his [Stockton’s] heart was in the right place and he really was passionate about his project and believed everything he was saying.

CNN

“But one of the things that concerned me was he told me he was flying in to see me and said he was landing at North Las Vegas Airport, which is an odd selection.

“Most people that come in privately come in to either at McCarran [International] – which is now Harry Reid International – or they come in to Henderson Executive.

“I asked him why and he said he was coming in on a two-seater experimental plane that he built.”

He added of Stockton: “He has a different risk appetite than I do – I’m a pilot, I have my helicopter pilot’s licence, I wouldn’t get into an experimental aircraft.”