What is in the contract that Titan passengers sign before boarding?
OceanGate has clients sign a contract to exempt the company from responsibility if things go wrong. The document mentions the word ‘death’ several times.
Mike Reiss and Alan Estrada, two former passengers of the Titan submersible who traveled in 2022 to see the Titanic, have spoken to the media about the contract they signed with tour operator OceanGate prior to the trip. In the terms of the agreement, the company sought to be released from responsibility in the event that something went wrong.
The contract mentions the obligation to pay the $250,000 ticket price, and the word ‘death’ was mentioned three times on the first page alone.
“This experimental vessel has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body and could cause physical injury, emotional trauma or death,” according to the document.
READ ALSO: Mr. Beast rejected offer from OceanGate to visit Titanic wreckage
Alan Estrada: You know you are risking your life
Both Reiss and Estrada agreed that it was a “suicidal” mission, and that there was an element of luck that they were able to get out alive considering the risks involved in the expedition.
“I signed that there could be failures that could cause injury or death. And that they were not the company’s responsibilities,” said Estrada. He said that he recognized that he was risking his life.
The Mexican YouTuber clarified that, at all times, the signatories were aware of the conditions they faced.
“We signed a release of several pages, I don’t remember how many, in which each of the risks you run is explained, including losing your life. Those of us who are involved in these expeditions know... we are not going to an amusement park”.
READ ALSO: The mission to rescue the Titan is going to be expensive
Reiss: You don’t get death out of your head
Reiss, screenwriter of The Simpsons confessed to the BBC what his thoughts were after entering the submarine. “They mention death three times on the first page, so you never get it out of your head. When I was getting into the submarine my thought was that this could be the end. So no one who is in this situation has been caught unawares.”
The story of 'Futility', the book that predicted disaster
Just 14 years before the sinking of the Titanic, in 1898, Morgan Robertson wrote the novel ‘Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan’, a book that narrates the story of the fictional ocean liner Titan, whose sinking bears many similarities to the events that would take place a little over a decade later in the North Atlantic.
The book caught the imagination of readers as the name of the fictional ship was Titan, while the most famous shipwreck is called Titanic. Both cruise ships collide on their starboard side against an iceberg on a cold April night, 900 miles before arriving in New York, although in the book the navigation was done in adverse conditions, while in reality they were optimal. With the latest accident of the submersible, the book now has two coincidences with regard to the name of its fictional vessel.