Captain Alfred Scott McLaren, a retired U.S. Navy officer, said: “This was a catastrophe that should never have happened, period.”

Family and relatives of people on board the submersible have been speaking out following the fatal Titan implosion.

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, 61, British Pakistani millionaire Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son Suleman Dawood, 19, British billionaire Hamish Harding, 58, and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, were the five persons on board the Titan when it vanished and disintegrated on Father’s Day.

More than 35 times, Nargeolet visited the Titanic debris, earning him the title “Mr. Titanic.” Stepson John Paschall recalled his “home away from home,” the water.

Explorer Fred Hagen, a former mission specialist on the Titan, initially thought that the victims were stranded well beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, where it can get “extremely cold.”

Even though specialists finally found that the submersible most likely exploded instantly, Hagen tells PEOPLE that he has had “recurring nightmarish” thoughts about how he could have prevented his companion from perhaps freezing.

The Pennsylvanian said he had intended to give his pal a pair of leather Uggs like the ones he wore on his first voyage on the Titanic, but “never got around to it.”

He recalled thinking, “He’s suffering, he might be dying, and his feet are probably frozen.” “And he wouldn’t have had to die with frozen feet if I had just… made the effort to get to send those Uggs to him like I intended.”

Captain Alfred Scott McLaren, a retired U.S. Navy officer, also had high comments for Nargeolet, describing him as a “true explorer” in life. The underwater community has suffered a “tremendous loss” as a result of Nargeolet’s passing, says McLaren.

The Titan was the focus of a program from CBS Sunday Morning contributor David Pogue in November 2022. The journalist recalled his trip to the Titanic disaster in July 2022 while speaking with PEOPLE.

According to Pogue, Nargeolet said something during the dive that “stuck with him” after the interview: “Every submersible is a prototype.”
The Titan submersible is the sole example. There isn’t a spare, according to Pogue. “This is the 2.0 version; there was no 1.0 version. Because it is unique and has many custom components, all of them are referred to as experimental. They’re not mass-produced iPhones either.

And that’s why all submersibles, including this one, have ongoing mechanical issues, he continues. “Little things fail frequently.”

Businessman Shahzada, a lifelong Titanic enthusiast, was pleased about the trip and planned to bring his wife, Christine, she told the BBC.

However, according to Christine, their son Suleman, a student at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, “really wanted to go,” and he brought a Rubik’s Cube with him to solve at the Titanic.

When we reached the 96-hour mark, Christine admitted, “I lost hope.”

Christine described her last words and actions with her husband and son as follows: “Well, we just hugged and joked honestly, because Shahzada was so excited to go down, he was like a little child. Therefore, I believe I will never want to hear the phrase “We lost comm” again in my life.

Alina, the family’s 17-year-old daughter, is among those who are “profoundly grateful to those from all over the world who have stood by us,” they said in a statement.

Harding was a well-known explorer, but flying was his area of expertise. The British pilot founded his own aviation business, went to space in 2022 with Jeff Bezos, the millionaire founder of Amazon, and made two trips to the South Pole.

Tracy Ryan, a friend of Linda Harding, the late famed explorer Hamish’s wife, tells PEOPLE that Linda was “very, very overwhelmed” when she discovered that her husband was among those still missing.

According to Ryan, co-founder of NKore Biotherapeutics, “She has such a beautiful soul.” “My stomach dropped to the floor when I learned it was Hamish.”

Ryan did everything she could to aid in the hunt for Hamish, including getting Congressman Eric Swalwell involved. She told PEOPLE that Swalwell called “for two days” in an effort to deploy the Magellan sub in the search area.

Ryan continues, “This was really more of an effort on my part to try and help the family get answers faster.”

Before the Titan’s last trip, according to Aaron Newman, a former mission specialist on the ship, Hamish was introduced to him. He calls Hamish “a real explorer” who was accustomed to taking part in daring expeditions.

According to Newman, “He just was loving to explore, push the limits of humans, and do conservation.” Therefore, he performed a lot of things to protect the environment and promote conservation in addition to adventure and exploration.

Rush, according to Newman, gave him advise on his voyage to the Mariana Trench, the Western Pacific Ocean’s deepest oceanic trench, during their final conversation.
Rush “was easy to get in touch with” and was “happy to help as he could,” according to Newman, who also claims that Rush “was an incredible advisor about some of these trips.”

According to Hagen, one of Rush’s objectives in building the Titan was to “democratize the sea and open it up to individuals,” adding that he wouldn’t refer to the travelers as “tourists.”

According to Hagen, “These are mission specialists who are passionate about science.” The condition and decay of the famous wreckage known as the Titanic is something they are concerned about documenting.
Following the Titan’s implosion, which was reported by the U.S. Coast Guard on June 22, concerns regarding the Titan’s safety and whether it ought to have submerged have grown.

McLaren declares, “This was a catastrophe that should never have happened, period.”