Tourist sub customer calls his 2021 dive to the Titanic a ‘kamikaze operation’

By FRANK JORDANS
Associated Press

BERLIN (AP) — As an international search determined the implosion of a vessel that disappeared on its way to the underwater wreckage of the Titanic, a man who was one of the submersible company’s first customers says a dive he made to the site two years ago was a “kamikaze operation.” Arthur Loibl is a 61-year-old retired businessman and adventurer from Germany. He said Wednesday that when the OceanGate company announced it was launching Titanic trips, he jumped at the chance, paying $110,000 for a 2019 dive that fell through because the first submersible didn’t survive testing. Loibl eventually went in 2021. Loibl says that in hindsight, “it was a bit dubious.”