'I talked dozens out of lethal Titan sub trip - one refused and now he's dead'

Daily Mirror

28-05-2025

Ahead of the disaster that will be revisited in tonight's chilling BBC documentary 'Implosion: The Titan Sub Disaster on BBC, expedition consultant Rob McCallum tried to warn Stockton Rush he had "huge concerns" about his submersible
One of OceanGate 's top former advisors "talked dozens of clients" out of a trip on the infamous Titan submersible - as it was placing passengers at "extreme risk."
The tragedy will be explored in tonight's BBC documentary, 'Implosion: The Titan Sub Disaster, and expedition consultant Rob McCallum previously told how he tried to warn OceanGate boss Stockton Rush in email messages that he had "huge concerns" about his sub.
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Mr McCallum has led dives to the Titanic shipwreck and other deep-sea spots. In each of these dives, the submersible being used had been approved to reach extreme depths having been classified by a marine classification society.
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OceanGate's Titan submersible had not. Mr McCallum tried to convince OceanGate boss Stockton Rush that he was placing clients at "extreme risk" during now infamous email exchanges - and even talked prospective customers out of getting in the sub.
Speaking exclusively to The Mirror, he said: "I had tried to convince Stockton Rush he was placing himself and his clients at extreme risk during email exchanges 2021-2018. Between 2020-23 I talked dozens of clients out of riding in Titan. Only four actually went and sadly, one of them perished (Hamish Harding). Hamish had dived Challenger Deep with us."
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Full timeline of Titan sub disappearance
Sunday, June 18
Titan submerged at 8am local time with five people onboard and a 96-hour oxygen supply. Operator OceanGate Expeditions lost contact with the sub an hour and 45 minutes later.
The Titan was due to resurface at 3pm local time and never did.
Monday, June 19
US Coast Guard, Canadian Coast Guard and Canadian Armed Forces launch search for missing submersible.
Tuesday, June 20
At 7am local time, the search expands as crews are "looking for any signs of surfacing". First reports of "banging" picked up by radar begin to make headlines.
Wednesday, June 21
US Coast Guard announced that a Canadian aircraft with sonar capabilities had "detected underwater noises in the search area". Investigations were continuing to find the "origin of the noises", but they had "yielded negative results".
Thursday, June 22
At 7am local time, authorities had not found the Titan sub and the 96-hour oxygen supply was forecasted to run out in the morning. By 11.48am, the US Coast Guard tweeted that "a debris field was discovered within the search area by an ROV near the Titanic" and experts were "evaluating the information".
At 2.49pm, OceanGate Expeditions issued a statement saying that all five people aboard were believed to be dead.
During a press conference shortly after, the US Coast Guard said it found the tail cone of the Titan sub about 1,600 feet from the bow of the wrecked Titanic. Five pieces of the Titan were recovered including the nose cone and pressure hull.
The vessel lost contact with its mother ship on June 18, 2023, nearly an hour and a half into its journey carrying five people some 13,000 feet underwater to visit the shipwreck of the Titanic site. The expert said he had "huge concerns" over the safety of the vehicle which was never classified or approved by maritime safety. An investigation into the implosion is due to deliver its findings in the next couple of weeks.
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Mr McCallum added: "Primarily my huge concerns about safety. I would NEVER put clients in an unclassed vehicle, and because Titan was constructed of composite materials it was never going to be classed. That is a show-stopper."
Two years since the catastrophic implosion which killed Stockton Rush, 61, Hamish Harding, 58, Pakistani tycoon, Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son Suleman Dawood, 19, and French Titanic expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet, 77, clients have been getting in contact with Mr McCallum to thank him for telling them to avoid the submarine.
He added: "A dozen or so (clients) in the weeks after the implosion and now a few more as the anniversary approaches (have approached him). For folks that were thinking of going in Titan, they are grateful for the advice that persuaded them not to."
Despite the catastrophic implosion, Mr McCallum believes the submarine industry is safe and that OceanGate was an "outlier" that "went to great lengths" to avoid industry standards.
"I think most people can see that Oceangate was an outlier entity operating outside of the industry norms….and in fact they went to great lengths to work around all of the industry standards" he said. "The Titan implosion demonstrated that the penalties for circumventing sound engineering principles and ignoring safety standards is a terrible one."