OceanGate co-founder to lead dive into ‘virtually unexplored’ ocean sinkhole year after Titan sub implosion: ‘Expect the unexpected’
The co-founder and former CEO of OceanGate, the deep sea exploration company whose submersible notoriously imploded on a dive to the Titanic wreck last year, is heading back to the bottom of the ocean to study a “virtually unexplored” sinkhole.
Guillermo Söhnlein founded OceanGate in 2009 with Stockton Rush — who was one of the five killed during last June’s doomed dive — but left and started another deep-sea company, Blue Marble Exploration.
This year, Söhnlein plans to descend in a submersible on a danger-filled expedition into “Dean’s Blue Hole” in the Bahamas — one of the world’s deepest ocean sinkholes.
He will be joined by scientist Kenny Broad and chief medical officer and former NASA astronaut Scott Parazynski on the journey “in search of unprecedented findings.”
“To date, Dean’s Blue Hole has been virtually unexplored,” the company said on its website. “Venturing into uncharted waters, our team will have to ‘expect the unexpected.'”
Dean’s Blue Hole is a deep blue, 664-foot underwater cavern surrounded by a gorgeous beach on a remote Bahaman island, according to Blue Marble. It formed some 15,000 years ago and, due to its extreme depth, very little is known about it.
The sinkhole, the third deepest in the world, has a “vase” shape with a narrow opening near the surface that leads to a much wider chamber below.
Some scientists believe there may be openings in the chamber connecting Dean’s Blue Hole to the Atlantic Ocean, which can potentially “cause unforeseen currents and thermal layers that could interfere with underwater operations,” according to the company.
“There is a certain amount of unpredictability our team will face in new territory.”
One of the biggest challenges will be the pressure at the floor of the hole which will be almost 300 pounds per square inch — about 20 times more than what’s on the surface.
Due to the narrow opening, most of the hole is in complete darkness.
Locals believe that Dean’s Blue Hole is a portal to hell. Several people drown there each year.
“We fully expect to find human remains and prepare to handle those situations with proper respect for the families,” the company said.
It’s not clear when exactly Söhnlein and his team plan to depart.
The Post has reached out to Blue Marble Exploration for comment about the expedition.
The 663-foot dive into the hole is far shallower than the wreckage of the Titanic, which is more than 12,500 below the surface of the North Atlantic.
On June 18, 2023, OceanGate’s Titan submersible set out with five passengers aboard: Rush, 61, French Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, and tourists Hamish Harding, 58, businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son, Suleman Dawood, 19.
The passengers had paid up to $250,000 each to be on board the 21-foot craft, which lost communication with its surface ship around one hour and 45 minutes into the journey, shortly before it reached the wreck.
After nearly five days of searching, the US Coast Guard announced debris “consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel” had been found on the ocean floor not far from the 1912 ocean liner.
All of those on board were crushed to death under the immense pressure in less than a second.
