A British thrill-seeker has spoken of his haunting "what if" thoughts after cancelling his spot on the doomed Titan submersible that imploded during its Titanic wreck expedition last year.
The Lucky Escape
Chris Brown, 61, had paid a £80,000 deposit for the deep-sea adventure but pulled out over safety concerns about the experimental vessel's construction. His decision proved fateful when the OceanGate craft suffered a catastrophic implosion in June 2023, killing all five aboard including OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush.
Safety Fears That Saved a Life
"I'd noticed the sub's carbon fibre hull seemed to be showing signs of fatigue," Brown revealed. "When I learned they were using old scaffolding poles for the ballast system, that was my red line." The digital marketing millionaire's concerns were tragically validated when investigators later found multiple safety compromises in the sub's design.
Survivor's Guilt
Brown described watching news of the disaster with horror: "That could have been me. I should have been more vocal about my worries." He's since become an advocate for stricter regulation of extreme tourism ventures.
The Human Cost
The tragedy claimed the lives of:
- Stockton Rush (OceanGate CEO)
- Paul-Henri Nargeolet (French Titanic expert)
- Hamish Harding (British billionaire)
- Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman (Pakistani-British businessmen)
The incident sparked global debate about the ethics and safety protocols of high-risk adventure tourism, particularly in uncontrolled deep-sea environments.
