Discovery Channel host refused trip on Titanic submarine due to ‘safety concerns’

A veteran explorer and host of Expedition Unknown on Discovery Plus said he decided to pass on a chance to film on OceanGate’s Titan submersible over safety concerns.

Josh Gates tweeted on Wednesday that he had decided to walk away from an opportunity to film Titanic because the submersible “did not perform well” during a test dive.

In a series of tweets, Gates explained that he had the opportunity to join OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush on a test dive while the company was preparing for its initial visit to the Titanic, which occurred in July 2021.

He wrote: “To those asking, #Titan did not perform well on my dive. Ultimately, I walked away from a huge opportunity to film Titanic due to my safety concerns w/ the @OceanGate platform. There’s more to the history and design of Titan that has not been made public – much of it concerning.”

Earlier this week, the Titanic submersible went missing during a sight-seeing expedition to the wreckage of the Titanic. On Thursday, following a frantic search operation, OceanGate confirmed that all five passengers onboard were dead.

Follow the latest updates on the Titanic submarine here.

The vehicle went missing off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada on Monday, according to the US Coast Guard.

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush was among the five who died in the Titan sub. The others were British billionaire Hamish Harding, renowned French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet as well as Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman.

A spokesperson for the mothership which launched the missing submersible defended OceanGate, saying it runs an “extremely safe operation” after questions were raised about safety. The submersible Titan is run by OceanGate.

Sean Leet, co-founder and chairman of Horizon Maritime Services, which owns the Polar Prince mothership from which Titan was launched, said: “OceanGate runs an extremely safe operation.”