Barely a year after a submersible belonging to OceanGate imploded and killed all five billionaires who were on a historic trip to the Titanic wreck, American business mogul and investor Larry Conor, together with Patrick Lahey, co-founder of Triton Submarines, are planning a two-man trip 12,500 feet below sea to get a glimpse of the Titanic’s remains.
The business magnates will use a $20 million (approx. KSh2.7 billion) submersible designed by Lahey and dubbed the Triton 4000/2 Abyssal Explorer, which Connor says can carry out the voyage repeatedly. The 4,000 refers to the depth the vessel can purportedly dive to in metres, which is about 200m lower than the wreck of the Titanic. Titanic’s remains rest about 3,800m under sea.
“Patrick has been designing this for over a decade. I want to show people worldwide that while the ocean is extremely powerful, it can be wonderful, enjoyable, and really life-changing if you go about it the right way,” Connor says.
The duo say they want to prove that the journey to the Titanic wreck can be done without disaster, despite the implosion of the Titan submersible in June 2023, which killed all on board, including OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush.
