Titanic sub – Live: Families can sue OceanGate

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(Clockwise from left) Hamish Harding, Stockton Rush, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood. (PA, Getty, Alamy)

The search for the missing Titan submarine is over and no survivors will be found

More details are starting to come out about the search and rescue operation

A US report claims that the US Navy knew about implosion days ago (Blog post below, or Read more here)

Azmeh Dawood, Shahzada Dawood’s sister and Suleman’s aunt, told NBC News that her cousin “wasn’t really into it” and was “terrified.” (Blog post below, or read more here)

Film director James Cameron says he wishes he’d spoken out about the sub’s risky design (Blog post below, or, or read more here)

Yahoo News UK spoke to a maritime law expert who said families could sue despite death waivers (see blog post below)

To read our live coverage you may need to click the blue link above and then refresh the page.

Regulations surrounding Titanic voyages ‘tricky to navigate’ says OceanGate co-founder

The co-founder of the Titan submarine’s parent company has said the rules surrounding visits to the Titanic’s wreckage are “a pain to navigate” after the deep-sea vessel is believed to have imploded while attempting to visit the site.

Guillermo Sohnlein, co-founder of OceanGate Expeditions, said there are rules around submersibles, but they are “scarce” and “outdated” as he defended the company against critics, including Titanic film director James Cameron.

It comes after the submarine lost contact with the tour operator an hour and 45 minutes into the two-hour descent to the wreckage, with the ship reported missing eight hours after communications were lost.

As more boats, planes and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) scrambled to the search area on Thursday, the five people aboard Titan were confirmed dead after debris was found near the wreckage.

Mr Cameron, who is a diving expert himself and has done scuba diving, told the BBC: “We now have another wreck which unfortunately is based on the same principles of ignoring warnings.”

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But Mr Sohnlein defended the submarine’s safety, saying he and co-founder Stockton Rush, who was aboard Titan, are committed to safety during expeditions.

He told Times Radio: “He was extremely committed to safety. He was also extremely diligent in managing risk and was well aware of the dangers of operating in a deep-sea environment.

“So that’s one of the main reasons I agreed to go with him in 2009.”

Mr. Sohnlein, who no longer works for the company, continues, “I know from first-hand experience that we were very committed to safety and security and risk mitigation was an important part of the company culture.”

Explaining the rules for visiting the Titanic wreck, he said: “The rules are quite brief. And many of them are outdated, or they are designed for specific cases.

“So it’s kind of tricky to navigate those regulatory schedules.”

Mr Sohnlein added on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Anyone who operates at that depth of the ocean, whether in human-rated submersibles or robotic submarines, knows the risks of operating under such pressure and that at any time, on any mission, with any craft you run the risk of this kind of implosion.”

In the days following the report that Titan was missing, the US Coast Guard said the ship had an exhausting supply of oxygen that was expected to run out on Thursday.

(Clockwise from left) Hamish Harding, Stockton Rush, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood. (PA, Getty, Alamy)

Sonar buoys dropped into the ocean picked up underwater noises that led the search to focus on one area, but only after the supposed deadline passed did an ROV find debris from the submarine close to the Titanic’s wreckage site.

And later, a report from The Wall Street Journal revealed that the US Navy had detected a noise consistent with an implosion in the search area for the submarine on Sunday.

The Associated Press, citing a senior military official, reported that the Navy passed the information on to the Coast Guard, which continued to search because the data was not considered definitive by the Navy.

Submarine expert Paul Hankin said five large pieces of debris helped identify it as coming from the Titan submarine — including the ship’s nose cone and the thrust hull’s forward bell.

The 6.7-metre vessel carried British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding, as well as UK-based businessman Shahzada Dawood, his son Suleman Dawood and OceanGate’s CEO and founder Mr Rush, with French submarine pilot Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

The Dawood family issued a statement Thursday evening mourning the loss of the father and son.

“Our beloved sons were aboard the OceanGate Titan submarine that perished underwater,” the statement said.

The family statement said they are grateful to those involved in the rescue operations and that the “tireless efforts” have given strength to the family.

Shahzada Dawood’s sister and Suleman’s aunt, Azmeh Dawood, told NBC News in the US that the 19-year-old was terrified of traveling.

“I feel disbelief… It’s an unreal situation,” she said.

“I feel like I’m in a really bad movie, with a countdown, but you didn’t know what you were counting down to. Personally, I have found it rather difficult to think about them.

The University of Strathclyde, where Suleman Dawood studied, sent its condolences to the family.

A spokesman said: “Strathclyde staff and students are shocked and deeply saddened by the death of Suleman Dawood and his father in this tragic incident.

“The entire University community extends our deepest condolences to the Dawood family and all involved in this terrible accident.”

Mr Harding’s family paid tribute to their “devoted father”.

He was described as “a guide, an inspiration, a support and a living legend” following news of his passing on Thursday.

Mr Harding’s family said his death has left a “hole in our lives that can never be filled”, and that they were “united in grief” with the families of the others who had passed away.

“We know that Hamish would have been immensely proud to see nations, experts, industry colleagues and friends come together for the search and we extend our heartfelt thanks for all their efforts,” they said.

Mr Sohnlein paid tribute on Times Radio, saying: “(He was) one of the most intelligent people I have ever met. He was a very talented aerospace engineer.

“And he was a passionate explorer. He was really committed to exploring the oceans and increasing humanity’s understanding of the world’s oceans.”

When asked about the safety of the Titan submarine, former Royal Navy submarine captain Ryan Ramsey said lessons should be learned and questions answered.

He said: “That is the question that needs to be answered. Most submarines and all submarines go through a strict safety process.

“Every time they come back and every time before they go to sea, they do safety checks, they check the safety of the hull, the condition of the openings in the hull, everything.

“What is clear here is that they did not have to follow the same regulations and therefore did not follow the same regulations. I think there will be a big focus there.

“That doesn’t mean blaming. That’s not what we should be doing. What we should be doing is adapting the so-called culture, where we take lessons learned and implement them in the future.”

Titanic sub – Live: Families can sue OceanGate

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