The co-founder of OceanGate Expeditions said on Monday he had not yet spoken to the families of the five individuals who died when the Titan submarine imploded while diving at the site of the Titanic wreck.
Guillermo Söhnlein, who co-founded the deep-sea exploration company with CEO Stockton Rush in 2009, said: Australian radio show “RN Breakfast” on Monday that he had not contacted the families or anyone related to the company.
Rush, 61, was one of five people aboard the Titan submarine.
Söhnlein, who lives in Spain, said he traveled to the United States to “make it a little bit easier to help or support any effort.”
The Argentine-American businessman left OceanGate in 2013.
He gave his portfolio to Rush.
His comments quoted Insider.
Söhnlein told RN Breakfast that he did not think the individuals who died in the submarine considered themselves “tourists”.
“First of all, I do not think even they consider themselves tourists, that is one other problem, the way things have been talked about over the last week,” he said.
![Guillermo Söhnlein, co-founder of OceanGate Expeditions, said on Monday he had not yet spoken to the families of the five people who died when the submarine Titan imploded while diving at the site of the Titanic wreck.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/NYPICHPDPICT000013097549-1.jpg?w=1024)
“They were part of the crew, they were mission specialists, they were trained for it.”
Söhnlein added: “It’s sad that they died doing something they were keen about.”
The passengers included Rush, in addition to Titanic specialist Paul-Henri Nargeolet, British billionaire explorer Hamish Harding, and Pakistani billionaire and tycoon Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman.
![Söhnlein co-founded a deep sea exploration company in 2009 with CEO Stockton Rush.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/NYPICHPDPICT000013112974-1.jpg?w=882)
![Rush, 61, was one of five people aboard the Titan submarine.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/NYPICHPDPICT000012910111-7.jpg)
A submarine boarding ticket costs $250,000 each.
Christine Dawood, who’s mourning her husband and son, told the BBC that Suleman, 19, took a Rubik’s cube with him on board the submarine in hopes of breaking the record.
“He said, ‘I’m going to solve a Rubik’s Cube 3,700 meters below the sea on the Titanic'” she told the outlet in her first interview since the deaths of her son and husband.
![Victims from left to right: Pakistani billionaire and tycoon Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman; Titanic specialist Paul-Henri Nargeolet; OceanGate CEO, Stockton Rush; and billionaire explorer Hamish Harding.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/NYPICHPDPICT000013058223-2.jpg?w=1024)
She added that the teenager was able to solve a cubic puzzle in lower than 20 seconds and carried it with him in all places.
The US Coast Guard announced Thursday that every one five passengers were killed in a “catastrophic implosion”.
Titan, owned and operated by OceanGate Expeditions, first began taking people to the Titanic in 2021.
![The US Coast Guard announced Thursday that five passengers were killed in the crash](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/NYPICHPDPICT000012980855-7.jpg?w=1024)
A design featuring a carbon fiber composite fuselage and an prolonged crew and passenger compartment was advertised – a departure from the more traditional spherical cabin areas and all-titanium construction.
Experts warned that under extreme pressure at extreme depths, the Titan’s hull could implode, which might lead to the quick death of anyone aboard the ship.