The Argentinian William Sohnleinwho was one of the co-founders of the company Ocean Gate, the firm that owns the mini-submarine that imploded on a trip to the Titanic, followed the search tasks from Spain, and stated that the company’s protocol was always for “the pilot to bring the submarine to the surface.” Söhnlein left the company 10 years ago and is now based in Barcelona, Spain.
The Argentine businessman created OceanGate in 2009 and in 2013 left his position, according to his LinkedIn profile, where he also describes himself as “independent consultant and social entrepreneur, focused on technological innovation, international business, and the exploration and sustainable settlement of extreme environments on land, sea, and space.”
According to his Wikipedia profile, Söhnlein was born in Buenos Aires on May 18, 1966, and immigrated to the United States in 1972 with his family, where he settled in San Jose, California, and attended St. Francis High School in Mountain View. .
Prior to the discovery of the submarine, Söhnlein uploaded a letter to his LinkedIn social network, in which he explained: “Over the past three days, I have seen hundreds of professionals dedicated to searching and rescuing the Titan submersible in the distance, which has interrupted communication during the scientific expedition that was heading to the wreck of the Titanic.”
“Today is a critical day for the rescue and the vital supplies of the submarine, which have begun to run out,” he added through his letter posted this morning on Facebook and LinkedIn.
Later, he also warned the BBC about his fear that “When operating at great depths, the pressure is so great that if there was a fault there would be an instant implosion. If that’s what happened, it would have happened four days ago.”
“In any case, I think we have to go back and learn from what happened, find out what happened, take those lessons and carry them forward.” concluded.
Earlier, in his publicly released letter, he asserted that “the window of time available for his rescue is longer than most people think.”
The company OceanGate Expedition, operator of the submersible and organizer of the trip, considered in a statement that the five passengers of the tourist submersible died. “The wreckage is consistent with a catastrophic loss of chamber pressure” on the Titan, US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger said during a press briefing this afternoon.
On board were the British millionaire Hamish Harding, president of the Action Aviation company; Pakistani Shahzada Dawood, Vice President of Engro, and his son Suleman; the expert French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet; and Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, the company that operates the submersible, and which charged $250,000 per tourist.
Source: Ambito
