US billionaire plans to take sub to Titanic site after 2023 implosion incident

A billionaire from Ohio plans to take a new $2 million deep-sea submersible to explore the Titanic wreckage, located nearly 4 km beneath the surface of the North Atlantic Ocean.

Real estate investor Larry Connor expressed confidence that a visit to the site "can be done without disaster," referencing the tragic implosion of the Titan submersible in June last year.

The Titan suffered a catastrophic implosion on June 18, 2023, during its descent to the Titanic, resulting in the deaths of all five occupants, including OceanGate Expeditions CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, billionaire explorer Hamish Harding, and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

Connor told The Wall Street Journal, as quoted by The New York Post, "I want to show people worldwide that while the ocean is extremely powerful, it can be wonderful and enjoyable and really kind of life-changing if you go about it the right way."

Although he did not specify a date, the Dayton-based investor mentioned that he and Patrick Lahey, co-founder of Triton Submarines, will dive over 12,400 feet to reach the Titanic site using a new two-person submersible named the Triton 4000/2 Abyssal Explorer.

Designed by Lahey, the $20 million vessel represents over a decade of work. "Patrick has been thinking about and designing this for over a decade. But we didn’t have the materials and technology. You couldn’t have built this sub five years ago," Connor told The Wall Street Journal.