FL Couple Sued OceanGate Months Before Titanic Submersible Disappeared

WINTER PARK, FL — Long before a submersible bound for the Titanic wreckage disappeared in the North Atlantic Ocean, a Florida couple sued the company behind the expedition for fraud, according to a WFLA report.

Authorities on Wednesday continued a massive search for the Titan, a submersible operated by OceanGate Expeditions. The vessel was reported overdue Sunday evening after diving to the famous wreckage, which sits at a depth of around 12,500 feet in the Atlantic Ocean about 900 miles off the coast of Cape Cod, according to the U.S. Coast Guard and media reports.

The search for the vessel kicked off about 435 miles south of St. John's. By Wednesday, authorities rushed more ships and rescue crew to the area, hoping underwater sounds they detected for a second straight day might help narrow their search.

The submersible was carrying five people when it disappeared, including OceanGate's founder and CEO, Stockton Rush. The submersible had a four-day oxygen supply when it was put to sea around 6 a.m. Sunday, according to a company adviser.

Related: 'Banging' Sounds Heard In Search For Missing Titanic Submersible

Marc and Sharon Hagle were due to visit the wreckage onboard an OceanGate submersible in 2018, according to documents obtained by WFLA. They reportedly paid more than $200,000 to participate, the report said.

OceanGate, however, kept delaying their trip and refused to give the couple a refund.

The Hagles sued Rush for alleged fraud, saying his company "knowingly strung them along even though he knew the vessel was not ready to take the trip and wouldn't give them a refund," WFLA reported.

As the search continues, OceanGate has come under fire for alleged "catastrophic" safety flaws in the submersibles used to visit the wreckage.

David Lochridge, OceanGate's director of marine operations, said in a 2018 lawsuit that the company's testing and certification was insufficient and would "subject passengers to potential extreme danger in an experimental submersible."

The company insisted that Lochridge was "not an engineer and was not hired or asked to perform engineering services on the Titan." The firm also says the vessel under development was a prototype, not the now-missing Titan.

The Marine Technology Society, which describes itself as "a professional group of ocean engineers, technologists, policy-makers, and educators," also expressed concern that year in a letter to Rush, OceanGate's chief executive. The society said it was critical that the company submit its prototype to tests overseen by an expert third party before launching in order to safeguard passengers.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.