Father and son who gave up last seats on doomed subsidy say CEO flew on plane to convince them
A father and son who turned down two tickets to the sunken Titan submarine said the CEO of OceanGate flew an “experimental” plane to convince them to buy the tickets.
Financier Jay Bloom had refused tickets for him and his son Sean on the submarine, fearing they might not survive the trip.
Speak in return NewsNationBloom said the considerations were raised after OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who coordinated the trip, flew to Las Vegas to convince him to board an “experimental plane.”
Bloom instructed the news channel: “It was very disturbing. The big red flag for my son was when Stockton came to see me in Las Vegas in March.
“He said he flew in a two-seater experimental plane that he built, so he came to Las Vegas in an experimental plane that he built to take me to an experimental submarine that he built to take me to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. . . .
Bloom, pictured here, had considered going to the doomed submarine, but big red flags forced him to abandon the adventure.
Jay Bloom and his son Sean (pictured together) were about to embark on the fateful Titanic voyage and were even offered a last-minute discount.
The Titan submarine, pictured here, exploded earlier this week with five people on board
Bloom continued, “It’s kind of surreal. Every time I see a picture of the people who lost their lives in this tragic event.
“I look at the picture of the father and son who replaced my son and myself and think how easily, without God’s grace, our picture could have ended up in the news.
“When Stockton first approached me with the idea, it sounded very sexy, very exciting, a real bucket list item.
“My son is a huge Titanic fan so I thought it would be great to do something together. The appeal of the proposal is so compelling.
“My son spoke to his friend and they expressed their concerns about the ship, the marine life, some of the materials used in its construction.”
Bloom had previously sent text messages between him and Rush showing how he and his son had been supplied with a “last minute prize” of $150,000 each to go on the trip.
In a Facebook statement, he said: “I raised my safety concerns and Stockton told me, ‘While of course there are risks, it’s much safer than flying in a helicopter or even scuba diving.’
He was sure it was safer than crossing the highway. I’m sure he really believed what he said. But he was completely wrong.”
Mr Bloom said: “I told him we couldn’t go until next year due to scheduling. Our places were taken by Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood, two of the three opposites who lost their lives on the tour, the fifth being Hamish Harding.
Mr. Rush talks to Bloom about working together on all of his company’s trips to the Titanic wreck
The submarine lost contact with its operator, OceanGate Expeditions, less than two hours after diving until the shipwreck last Sunday with 5 people on board.
A large-scale rescue operation involving an aircraft and a fleet of ships had landed in the kingdom 400 miles southeast of Newfoundland, Canada, as the submarine’s oxygen supply dwindled.
On Thursday, it was announced that 5 men on board were killed immediately after the submarine suffered a “catastrophic collapse”.
One of Pakistan’s richest men, Shahzada Dawood, was on board with his son Suleman, British billionaire Hamish Harding, CEO Rush and French researcher Paul Henri Nargeolet.
The search for the 21-foot submarine boys here came to a disastrous end when a remote-controlled submarine from a Canadian ship detected particles on the ocean floor.
French Navy veteran PH Nargeollet (left) sat on the submarine with Stockton Rush (right), CEO of OceanGate Expedition.
There were 5 people on board along with British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding (left) and Shahzad Devudh and his son Suleman who was only 19 years old.
“The collapse would have produced significant broadband noise that would have been picked up by the sonar buoys,” US Coast Guard Vice Admiral John Moger mentioned at the current information conference.
For the boys, some of whom paid $250,000 to witness the well-known shipwreck, it would have been instant death.
A heartbreaking blow to their households, experts say there is little chance of any of their stays being recovered.
“It’s an incredibly brutal environment down there. The wreckage is indicative of a catastrophic shipwreck. We’ll continue to work and search the area down there, but right now I don’t have an answer to the outlook,” said Paul Hankin, a deep-sea professional involved in the search.
