NEWFOUNDLAND, CANADA: Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet had gone on the expedition 35 times before dying in a place that he loved. His close friend and explorer Larry Daley opened up about his friend who left for an underwater trip on the Titan submersible to see the Titanic wreckage. "We were just talking about the old times. He lost his life in a place he so loved, exploring the Titanic. It's kind of symbolic, in a way," Daley said.
He told the BBC, "We're going to keep exploring — that's what human nature is.” Celebrated explorer Victor Vescovo also mourned the death of Nargeolet and Harding and said: “Paul-Henri Nargeolet was such a charming soul. It’s very strange for me to be talking about him in the past tense. But he was so friendly and accepting of everyone. He also had a very strong core."
'He was an extremely accomplished diver '
Vescovo told People, "He was an extremely accomplished diver and submersible operator. He did many, many dangerous things, including removing unexploded ordinance from the sea floor left from World War II, but he handled these missions with such a French 'Je ne sais quois,' type of attitude." "He was the kind of Frenchman that you see in the movies, where risk was just something you accepted with a glass of nice Bordeaux," he added.
Who all died in the Titan sub-expedition?
Nargeolet died along with Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood, his son, Suleman, and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, on Thursday afternoon, June 22. The group left off on their journey from St John's in the province of Newfoundland, which is the oldest seaport in North America.
OceanGate on Thursday released an official statement confirming the death of passengers, “We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost. These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans."
