US billionaire, Larry Connor plans to take submersible to Titanic nearly one year after OceanGate implosion

A US luxury real estate billionaire and a deep-sea explorer are planning to travel in a submersible to explore the Titanic nearly one year after the OceanGate Titan submersible implosion.

The private submersible industry was rocked after five people were killed when a vessel built by OceanGate imploded en route to the Titanic last year.

Despite the implosion that rocked the world,  Ohio tycoon and adventurer Larry Connor and Patrick Lahey, co-founder of Triton Submarines, say they want to take a sub to a depth of around 3,800m (12,467ft) to see the shipwreck in the North Atlantic Ocean.

“I want to show people worldwide that while the ocean is extremely powerful, it can be wonderful and enjoyable and really kind of life-changing if you go about it the right way,” Connor said.

“Patrick has been thinking about and designing this for over a decade. But we didn’t have the materials and technology. You couldn’t have built this sub five years ago.”

A spokesman for Mr. Connor’s company said on Tuesday that the proposed voyage would only take place once a vessel was fully certified by a marine organisation.

There is no timeframe for the planned expedition. But the objective of their expedition is to demonstrate that deep-sea explorations can be conducted without peril, even after the disastrous implosion of the Titan submersible in June.

Recall that on June 18, 2023, the implosion of the Titan resulted in the deaths of all five passengers, including the Chief Executive Officer of OceanGate, Stockton Rush.

The Titan was en route to the Titanic site when it suffered a catastrophic failure on June 18, leading to the deaths of Rush, billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding, French Titanic authority Paul-Henri Nargeolet, and Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood along with his 19-year-old son, Sulaiman.