A legal expert says that OceanGate could face a federal probe into any criminal liability if the ‘Titanic Five’ are not found alive – as oxygen on the missing submersible is feared to have run out.
They say that a ‘combination’ of governments will likely investigate the tragedy in international waters, but the US is expected to lead the inquiry.
Debris has been found in the search for the 22ft submersible, which vanished with five men on board after it lost communication during the 12,500ft dive below the Atlantic.
Criminal defense attorney Joshua Ritter, a partner with El Dabe Ritter Trial Lawyers, told DailyMail.com that the waiver signed by those on board doesn’t mean those in charge are ‘totally protected from criminal liability.’
The former LA County prosecutor said: ‘The question of whether OceanGate could face criminal liability has yet to be answered, but some government or perhaps a combination of governments will definitely investigate this tragedy.
Shahzada Dawood, 48, a UK-based board member of the Prince’s Trust charity, plus his son Suleman Dawood, 19, are on board
‘The U.S. government is the most likely entity to head up this investigation, because OceanGate is based in Washington state.
‘The U.S. government will most likely conclude that it has jurisdiction to investigate, even though the company operated in international waters.
Criminal defense attorney Joshua Ritter
‘I would compare this incident in some respects to a case in Arizona where three people died in 2009 from participating in a sweat lodge.
‘A self-help entrepreneur who ran that sweat lodge was eventually convicted of negligent homicide.
‘People can give consent to participate in dangerous activities, but that doesn’t mean whoever is in charge is totally protected from criminal liability.
‘If an investigation reveals the participants were misled about the risks or pressured to agree to activities they would normally avoid, then it can lead to criminal charges.
‘For the company to use a video game controller to steer this submarine, that’s the kind of thing that makes this ripe for an investigation.
‘However, the CEO of the company is among the missing, and if he does not survive this whole episode that will cloud the question of who bears ultimate responsibility.’
CEO of OceanGate Stockton Rush (left) and billionaire Hamish Harding (right), CEO of Action Aviation in Dubai are also on board
French Navy veteran PH Nargeolet – who is considered the world’s leading expert on the Titanic – was on the Titan vessel
The Titanic wreckage is 12,500ft underwater – some 11,000ft deeper than many US and British Navy subs can dive
The world is praying for a ‘miracle’ after the US Coast Guard predicted the vital oxygen supply of the Titan would end at 7.08am EST.
Billionaire Hamish Harding, CEO of Action Aviation in Dubai, and Shahzada Dawood, 48, a UK-based board member of the Prince’s Trust charity, plus his son Suleman Dawood, 19, are all on board.
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush is also on the vessel, which vanished on Sunday, along with French Navy veteran PH Nargeolet – who is considered the world’s leading expert on the Titanic.
It comes after other legal experts told DailyMail.com that relatives of the Titanic five may not be able to claim the company was negligent because their loved ones ‘knew it was big and serious,’ after a waiver mentioned the possibility of dying three times.
However, there is some hope for the family members if they choose to submit legal filings in Washington, where the company is based.
Los Angeles personal injury attorney Miguel Custodio, co-founder of Custodio and Dubey LLP, told DailyMail.com that the families of the missing would find it difficult to prove their case in court if the incident ends in tragedy.
He said: ‘Everyone on board knew this wasn’t a vacation or sightseeing, that it was really an exploration into the unknown at one of the deepest points on the planet.
OceanGate’s Titan submersible went missing shortly after it departed for the Titanic wreckage on Sunday morning and its oxygen supply is running low
Titan’s mothership Polar Prince has been searching the area since Sunday and is zig-zagging the site. At least ten ships are on the sea above the Titanic
‘The price-tag itself is a clear indication that this is something big and serious. The trip itself was dangerous and there was a real possibility that things could go wrong.
‘I don’t see much recourse for these families in court, but the waiver could be challenged if it can be found that OceanGate was negligent in the way it was being designed or operated, and that caused the submersible to be lost.
”The venue for any lawsuit will also make a difference and OceanGate Expeditions is based in Washington state, one of the few that can award partial damages in negligence cases.
Jeff Karson, Professor Emeritus of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Syracuse University, told DailyMail.com the sounds heard are likely to be ‘wishful thinking’ by the Coast Guard
Since the sub went missing, many former passengers have commented on how rudimentary parts of the vessel appeared – despite signing the form and completing the trip.
Peter S. Selvin, Chair of the Beverly Hills-based business firm Ervin Cohen Jessup’s Insurance Coverage and Recovery Department, added that the waiver each passenger signed would also cause problems if any wanted to file a lawsuit.
Selvin told DailyMail.com: ‘The principle that generally applies is that a liability waiver is enforceable with two potential caveats: the first being that you cannot exculpate from acts of intentional misconduct.
‘A waiver would not be enforced in cases where defendants are involved in reckless, willful activity, but negligence is another thing.’
The sub lost communications with its operator, OceanGate Expeditions, less than two hours into its dive to the famous shipwreck on Sunday.
A glimmer of hope lit up the bleak search yesterday when the Coast Guard announced that ‘banging’ sounds had been detected underwater.
But a sonar expert told DailyMail.com that the sounds heard by search and rescue vessels are likely to be ‘debris’ and ‘junk’ from the iconic wreck.
The Atalante – viewed as the final hope for the missing Titan sub – has arrived at the search site. It is dropping in a deep sea robot called the Victor 6000, shown at the stern of its mother vessel
As the search for the missing Titan submersible becomes increasingly desperate, some of the world’s most advanced underwater search equipment has been deployed to scour the depths of the Atlantic
Prof Karson said he won’t be ‘shocked if that, wherever that sound is, that there’s no submarine there.’
He added: ‘One possibility is that the sounds bouncing around the debris. And so it’s a more complicated echo.
‘It’s just not bouncing off of one thing. It’s bouncing off a bunch of things. And it’s like, you know, dropping up a marble into a tin can. It’s rattling around and that would confuse the location.
‘The banging, I hear the Coast Guard talk about it. I wonder how much of this is just wishful thinking?
‘Is it really banging or just some unidentified sound? I think that is a more accurate description right now.
‘In past investigations, looking for lost objects on the seafloor, I know that all sorts of crazy sound was discovered. It’s just one more thing we don’t understand about the ocean, our own planet.
‘There’s no telling where the sound is coming from or how far away it is. Personally, I’m worried that sound may be coming from something that’s far from the where they need to be looking.’
Victor 6000 is a French unmanned ROV that is deployed by the L’Atalante ship and can reach depths of 20,000ft
Multi-national vessels quickly raced to the site that is 900 miles east of Cape Cod and around 400 miles southeast of Newfoundland.
There are multiple C-130 planes and Boeing Poseidon P-8s involved in the search too, as the Coast Guard searched 10,000 square miles of ocean surface – currently to no avail.
A deep-water robot sub has reached the Atlantic floor – and a Canadian ROB is currently descending the 12,500ft of ocean.
L’Atalante, a French ship, viewed as the best and final hope of finding the missing Titanic submersible has also dropped its remote-controlled sub to find five missing adventurers.
It deployed Victor 6000, which can reach depths of 20,000ft, and has already arrived at the Titanic’s wreck to scour the sea bed.
Victor 6000 has arms that can cut cables – or dislodge a trapped or stranded vessel – and may be able to fix a cable onto the sub before it is hauled several miles to the surface by a giant winch with more than three miles of cable called a Flyaway Deep Ocean Salvage System on Horizon Arctic.
Despite fears their oxygen supplies have run out, there is still hope in the most desperate of situations.
Experts believe that the 96-hour oxygen supply number is an imprecise estimate and could be extended if those on board have taken measures to conserve breathable air including lying still and even sleeping.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk