Titan's pilot's friend refutes Titanic director

Guillermo Soehnlein, co-founder of the company that operates the Titan submersible, hit back after James Cameron accused the company of ignoring warnings about the danger.

Guillermo Soehnlein founded OceanGate Expeditions in 2009 with Stockton Rush, who died operating the Titan submersible. On June 23, Soehnlein said he was not involved in the design of the Titan and left the company in 2013. However, he said his former partner took safety “extremely seriously.”

“He also has a very strong risk management mindset, and is acutely aware of the dangers of operating in the deep ocean environment,” Soehnlein said.

The Titan submersible in a CBS report last year. Photo: CBS — The Titan submersible in a CBS report last year. Photo: *CBS*

James Cameron, director of the film Titanic, previously accused OceanGate of ignoring warnings of danger, after Rush and four others died during an expedition to the Titanic wreck in the Atlantic Ocean.

William Kohnen, chairman of the Manned Vehicles Committee, said OceanGate was “not ready” to undergo the standard certification process for the Titan submersible. The committee in 2018 expressed concerns about safety issues during Titan’s development.

OceanGate, however, continued on its own path, despite Kohnen's warning that the project "could have serious, even catastrophic consequences," according to Kohnen.

“Industry regulations are in place to prevent potentially catastrophic consequences. We only make smart decisions when we remember what we wrote and where we went wrong,” Kohnen says.

Stockton Rush, head of OceanGate, one of five people killed on the Titan. Photo: Reuters — Stockton Rush, head of OceanGate, one of five people killed on the Titan. Photo: *Reuters*

Meanwhile, Soehnlein said it was too early to discuss what happened to Titan. He noted that developing safety regulations for ultra-deep submersibles is difficult and that deep-sea exploration will continue despite the tragedy. "Like space exploration, the best way to preserve the memory and legacy of the five explorers is to conduct an investigation, find out what went wrong, learn from it and move forward," he said.

The Titan submersible has been missing since June 18. OceanGate confirmed on June 22 that five people on board had died. The US Coast Guard previously said that debris they found on the seabed showed that the Titan had been “catastrophically crushed”, a phenomenon that killed those inside almost instantly, at a depth of nearly 4,000 meters below the Atlantic Ocean floor.