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In the aftermath of the OceanGate submersible carrying five passengers imploding, CEO Stockton Rush's old interviews criticizing existing safety regulations are now making their rounds online, leaving netizens enraged. In a 2021 interview with YouTuber alanxelmundo, the 61-year-old admitted to overlooking several safety rules while constructing the vessel.
Stockton Rush was aboard the submersible named Titan when it lost contact with its support ship on Sunday, June 18, 2023, sparking a massive search and rescue operation. On Thursday, The U.S. Coast Guard confirmed that the vessel imploded and further explained that they found debris "consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber."
The craft utilized both Carbon fiber and titanium in its body. NBC reported that Carbon fiber remains untested at extreme depths. This concern was also reportedly raised previously, but was dismissed by Rush.
Expressing confidence in his designs, which he said were supported by "logic and good engineering," he told YouTuber alanxelmundo:
"I think it was General MacArthur who said: 'You're remembered for the rules you break.'"
As more past interviews given by the 61-year-old CEO were uncovered, it showed a clear cause for concern given his disregard for existing safety measures. Needless to say, internet users harshly criticized his actions.
Netizens slam Stockton Rush, express sympathy for the death of the 19-year-old aboard Tian
As Rush's past interviews went viral, Twitterati was left raging online, with many calling him a narcissist with extreme hubris and ego for ignoring safety concerns and claiming his vessel was invincible.
They further criticized the 61-year-old OceanGate CEO for leading four others to their death, most notably a 19-year-old who reportedly was terrified to undertake the expedition but did it to please his father.
What did Stockton Rush say in his past interviews?
Prior to the vessel going missing, the founder and CEO of OceanGate expressed his grievances with the U.S. submarine industry’s “obscenely safe” regulations several times in the past.
In 2018, he allegedly told as much to the chairman of the Marine Technology Society, Will Kohnen, when the group warned him of "catastrophic" results of ignoring the rules.
In a 2019 interview with Smithsonian Magazine, the 61-year-old explained:
"There hasn’t been an injury in the commercial sub industry in over 35 years. It’s obscenely safe, because they have all these regulations... But it also hasn’t innovated or grown — because they have all these regulations."
Later, in a November 2022 interview with CBS journalist David Pogue for his podcast, Unsung Science, the two discussed Titan's design and build. It is here that Stockton Rush stated that "at some point, safety is just pure waste."
Along with CEO Stockton Rush, others aboard the missing submersible were British ex-businessman Hamish Harding, Pakistani techie Shanzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman, and French diver and Titanic expert, Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
