Idaho attorney was supposed to be passenger on missing submarine to the Titanic
A massive search operation began Sunday for a submarine carrying five men that went missing off the coast of Newfoundland. Another man, an attorney from Idaho, was supposed to have been aboard, too.
The U.S. Coast Guard announced Thursday that they believed the missing men were dead after a remote-controlled vehicle found debris from the submersible that indicated there was a “catastrophic implosion of the vessel,” the New York Times reported.
In a decision that perhaps saved his life, David Concannon canceled his submarine trip — valued at $250,000 per person — at the last minute, according to a social media post.
“As I posted last week, I was supposed to be on this expedition and, indeed, on this dive, but I had to cancel to attend to another urgent client matter,” Concannon wrote on Facebook. “I was called and asked to provide whatever assistance I could to ensure the safe return of everyone in the sub. Of course, I immediately agreed.”
Concannon is an attorney and expedition legal consultant who lives in Sun Valley, where he runs law firm Concannon & Charles, according to his website. His clients have included the likes of Jeff Bezos, whom he advised on space projects, and “Titanic” film director James Cameron, according to an interview with the Wood River Weekly last year.
He is also a consultant for OceanGate Expeditions, the company that operates the missing submersible known as the Titan and conducts deep-sea expeditions.
The Titan is the “only crewed submersible in the world that can take five people as deep as 4,000 meters — more than 13,100 feet — below the surface of the ocean,” according to The New York Times.
Stockton Rush, the founder and CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, and four others planned to take the Titan down to explore the Titanic shipwreck. Early Sunday, they lost contact with the surface ship an hour and 45 minutes into their dive, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
Concannon told the Wood River Weekly that a planned 2022 expedition was going to be his fifth trip to the Titanic.
He appeared to be onsite for rescue efforts Wednesday when he posted a photo from aboard a ship.
“There is a brief lull while we wait for (equipment) to arrive on site,” Concannon wrote on Facebook. “Proper assets are on the move from all over, and some are expected to arrive in a few hours. There is still time left and we continue to remain hopeful for the safe return of our friends and loved ones.”
Concannon did not immediately respond to the Idaho Statesman’s request for comment.
