Chris Brown, a digital marketing tycoon and friend of British Billionaire Hamish Harding, told Good Morning America he pulled out of the Titanic submersible mission due to safety concerns.
Brown is an avid adventurer and said he was initially intrigued about getting to see the Titanic wreckage in person. He told GMA he was one of the first people to sign up for the mission.
“Being a modern-day adventurer interested in pushing the boundaries of our knowledge of places that people go… the Titanic is obviously an iconic wreck,” he said. “It’s a chance for an expedition, an exploration and adding a bit of science into the situation.
He said he knew very little about OceansGate before signing up, Brown was initially excited. But he ultimately decided not to go, fearing his safety.
When asked about his concerns with the safety of the mission, Brown declined to elaborate, saying “the focus right now has to be on trying to rescue these people.”
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Brown said he would not hesitate to continue exploring, and he is used to evaluating the risks before embarking on a mission. He did acknowledge that adventurers like himself sometimes fail to consider how their actions impact their friends and families.
“We fully understand the risk and take them onboard,” he said. “But [friends and family] haven’t been so involved in the process…in a situation like this, it’s probably as if the bottom has dropped out of their worlds.”
