OceanGate co-founder says CEO Rush was ‘diligent engineer’

(NewsNation) — The co-founder of OceanGate Expeditions says the now-deceased CEO was a “diligent engineer,” rejecting any notions that Stockton Rush’s practices were to blame for a company submersible imploding in the Atlantic Ocean.

Guillermo Sohnlein, who left the company ten years ago after helping create it in 2009, said his former business partner was not a risk taker, but a risk manager.

“If anything, he was fully committed to safety,” Sohnlein said Thursday on “Elizabeth Vargas Reports.”

OceanGate Expeditions confirmed Thursday that debris found near the Titanic is from the tourist submersible Titan, which disappeared on a dive to visit the wreck of the Titanic with five people on board, including Rush. All five are believed to be dead.

Rear Adm. Jon Mauger with the First Coast Guard District confirmed the findings in a news conference.

“The debris is consistent with a catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber,” Mauger said.

Sohnlein partnered with Rush on OceanGate to “open up the oceans for all of humanity,” he said. The goal was to explore and preserve the oceans.

“I know that’s the one thing that really drove Stockton throughout the entire time doing OceanGate,” Sohnlein said.

After the submersible went missing, details surfaced about possibly safety concerns that arose about the vessel during its development and dives. A former employee sued the company in 2018 alleging the craft wasn’t capable of withstanding deep depths, and one former passenger likened his expedition in 2021 to a suicide mission.

Sohnlein dismissed characterizations of Stockton as someone who skirted safety protocols.

“Contrary to how some folks and social media and online have been portraying him, he was not a risk taker. He was very much a risk manager,” Sohnlein said.

The debris that searchers found Thursday included the tail cone from the submersible as well as the front end bell from the pressure hull. In a second debris field, they located the other end of the pressure hull. When asked if there was a possibility of recovering the bodies of the passengers, officials said they were unable to say at this time but would continue searching.

“I’ve spent the past two or three days preparing myself for this kind of outcome, but honestly listening to the Coast Guard press conference, the finality of their findings is still difficult to deal with,” Sohnlein said. “I can’t even imagine what the families of the crew are going through or what the team members at OceanGate are going through after spending these past four days trying to to find and rescue their teammates.”

The Titan was one of only a handful of vessels capable of diving so deep into the ocean, part of what made the rescue effort so challenging.

The Coast Guard is still working to develop a timeline and understand what could have occurred.

Sohnlein said it’s too early to say how the disaster could impact the larger ocean exploration industry.

“I want answers, the families want answers, the crew wants answers, and there’ll be a time for that and they’ll be collecting data over the coming days and weeks,” Sohnlein said. “Exploration is a very worthwhile human endeavor, and the best thing that we can do is honor the legacy of these five explorers and take our lessons learned and move forward.”

NewsNation writer Stephanie Whiteside contributed to this report.