Man who turned down trip on ill-fated submersible says CEO 'brushed off' his concerns

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Any moment we could start to see, right. The mother mothership of the Titan vessel, the Polar Prince and other rescue ships returning Yeah, Erin, in fact, we have been monitoring boat traffic in the last several minutes. And we see that there are two ships that are returning right here to where we are, harbor side in Saint John's. One of them is a Canadian Coast Guard ship and the other is a private vessel. Both of them had been participating in the search and rescue mission and they're returning to shore. Also coming back here to where we are is the polar prince. Now, the polar prince had been operating as a mother ship to the Titan. And the polar prince is carrying what is left of Ocean Gate's crew. Now, you can just imagine what that crew has been through over the last several days. First, losing contact with their vessel on Sunday, then trying to look for a trying to attempt some sort of rescue, only to learn of that catastrophic implosion. Now, even though the polar prince is returning here to port, it doesn't mean that the recovery mission is over. In fact, the remote operating vehicle that first found the debris of the vessel is back out on a second mission. That's the Odyssey is. And it is back out at the bottom of the ocean as we speak. And it's mapping the area where the debris might be found. That is going to be critical information, especially now that we know that the Canadian Transportation Board is conducting an investigation. They're going to need that information in order to figure out what happened here and whether it could have been prevented Erin. All right, Gloria, thank you very much. And OUTFRONT now, as promised, Jay Bloom and his son, Sean Jay gave up their seats on the Titans for this trip. Another father and son did take those seats. They went on the Titan and as we know, sadly and tragically lost their lives. So I appreciate both of you taking the time to to talk to me about this. Jay, I know initially you and Sean were both very intrigued by taking a trip on the Titan. Right. You're in that small group of people. Right. That just have that intrepid curiosity. You were curious about it when you first learned that the Titan was missing. And then on those days, they were hoping for rescue. You're imagining like everybody else that. But for you, it's different that it could have been you down there, right? Gasping for air. Then you find out it imploded and you keep seeing images of the father and son who did take your seats. What went through your mind? Well, it's it's a very surreal experience from the beginning, you know. You know, you're supposed to be on the on that. We had the opportunity to be on that on that sub and you see you see all this? It's everywhere. Everywhere we looked. And the most haunting thing about it is when you look at the news and open my laptop on social media, television, it was everywhere. And they show pictures of of the people who lost their lives. And all I could see when I saw that father and son was myself and my son. That could have been us and that picture. And Sean, I mean, obviously the other young man there he was 19 in your 20. Right. I mean it is eerie the parallels. What did you first think when you learned what happened when when the news initially broke before the news initially broke, when we were considering actually going on the submarine ourselves, One of the safety concerns I had before getting on was literally about the structural integrity of the submarine before we got on, I saw a video of Stockton explaining how the submarine worked with the with the remote and everything like that. And I saw a lot of red flags with it. And it was only meant for five people and I just didn't think that it could survive going that low into the ocean. So ultimately, I ended up warning my dad about it and he ended up agreeing with me. And when we tried to ask Stockton questions, he kind of brush it off a little bit. So it's kind of red flags from the start. And then when the story came out, you know, on the first day, initially we thought that the first thing we thought is that the submarine imploded because it's very difficult for a submarine of that size to get to the bottom of the ocean. And not implode. But that was the first thing that went through our head was it either imploded or it got stuck under the Titanic on the first day. Right. And I know you had had these concerns J. What's interesting is you had an exchange with Stockton Rush in April. He says, quote, Have space on mission one and two, last minute price 150 per person. You reply, I'll check my schedule and see if I can make it work. Three days later, he says, Any luck? And at one point, I know that he went to Vegas he actually traveled to Vegas to see you, to try to meet with you to close the deal. Now, Jason, you're talking about red flag something. What about that trip raised a red flag to you and you came all the way to see you to try to get you to buy these tickets? Yeah. You know, Stockton, you know, I think is his heart was in the right place. And he he really was passionate about his project, and he believed everything he was saying. But one of the things that concerned me was he told me he was flying in to see me and he was landing at North Las Vegas Airport, which is an odd selection. Most people that come in privately come into either McCarran, which now Harry Reid International, or they come into Henderson executive. And I asked him why, and he said he was coming in on a two seater experimental plane that he built. And I started to think about he's coming in on a two seater experimental plane to pitch me out, to go on a five seater experimental sub that he built down to the ocean floor to see the Titanic. And it was just it was it was a he has a different risk appetite than I do. I'm a pilot. I have my helicopter pilot's license. I wouldn't get into an experimental aircraft. I mean, yeah. Shawn, when you when you think about what happened here and how how close you were to being on this. Right. I mean, I know that you all thought about it. Did you ever convey to Stockton Rush. Safety concerns? I mean, I know I know. At one point, Jay, you talked about a friend of Shawn's who was worried about things like a squid hitting it. And, you know, he dismissed those concerns. But did you talk to him about some of your serious structural issues and worries that you had Yeah, he he came out to Las Vegas in March to see me. We we met a couple of times in person. But the March one, the March trip, he came out he actually took me through the Titanic exhibition at the Luxor. And then we had lunch after and we talked about the x x edition that he wanted to go on. And he talked he walked me through it. And then we talked about the safety concerns. And I think he had so much passion for the project that he was blinded by it. He wasn't objective. And he didn't look at things that I saw and that others saw that were problematic because he just didn't fit his narrative. Shawn, I, I, it's unfortunate, you know, I mean, it's tragic. And, Shawn, you know, I began by saying you and your dad are the kinds of people who would consider something like this. You know, you're already in a small group, right. Of people who who find this to be something that could, you know, instill curiosity as opposed to. Oh, right. So where are you now? Is this changed how you see it? Would you ever consider doing a trip like this again? Now that you've seen this happen? I mean, I it's very sad and tragic that I kind of predicted this outcome. My dad was very excited to go. And he was very excited to take me because I was obsessed with the Titanic as a little kid. And I was really looking forward to doing it. But the second I saw the submarine and how it works, like I knew that one of the first outcomes, me and my friend Simon, actually, that friend that everyone was talking about, we both knew immediately that this submarine couldn't make it to the bottom of the ocean. And it's sad that our prediction came true. But as far as us doing something like this ever again, I mean, the ocean is scarier than space. We know more about space than we do about the ocean. It's definitely not something we're ever going to be trying to do again, you know what I mean? Like, it's just it just was not not for us. Well, I'm glad that you're I'm glad you're both together and you're safe. And I know you have an appreciation for that now that you didn't have. You just, you know, couldn't tangibly have even days ago. So thank you both very much.
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Channel: CNN
Views: 3,482,600
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Length: 8min 35sec (515 seconds)
Published: Sat Jun 24 2023
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