A relative of two Titanic survivors blasted an Ohio billionaire's plan to take a $20 million submersible to explore wreckage of the ship after the fatal OceanGate exploration that took place last year.
Real estate investor Larry Connor revealed his partnership with Triton Submarines co-founder Patrick Lahey to take a two-person submersible more than 12,400 feet below sea level in an effort to prove that the goal of the doomed OceanGate mission can be achieved during an interview with the Wall Street Journal earlier this month. Shelley Binder, the descendant of Titanic survivors Leah and Phillip Aks, told the Sun that the resting place of the sunken ship should be left undisturbed, especially after the OceanGate attempted exploration that resulted in five deaths last June.
“For generations, people who have the money are going to spend it doing things to prove their machismo and appease their sense of adventure, but does that mean they should?” Binder asked.
“Fundamentally, I think one could say these people have more dollars than sense,” she added. “And the idea of tourism to a wreck where 1,496 people lost their lives in a truly horrific disaster of epic proportions is offensive.
“What happened aboard that ship was extremely traumatic and harrowing for my great-grandmother and great-uncle. This was a devastating and landmark moment in their lives, and it had long-lasting repercussions for my entire family.”
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush and all four others onboard Titan submersible were killed in an imploded last June. The submersible -- which differs from a submarine as it relies on outside support, rather than renewing its own power and breathing air -- offered passengers an up-close experience to explore the Titanic wreckage in the Atlantic Ocean for $250,000 and was only the third mission hosted by OceanGate Expeditions since initially being offered in 2021.
The Titan was reported to have reached 3,800 meters "as few as 13" of the 90 attempted dives, according to a four-page liability waiver signed by a would-be passenger, which referred to the submersible as "experimental" three times.