OceanGate co-founder organising trip to ‘portal of hell’ sinkhole a year after Titan implosion

The OceanGate co-founder is organising a trip to a sinkhole described as the “portal to hell” a year on from the Titan submersible disaster.

Located in the Bahamas, Dean’s Blue Hole is one of the world’s deepest underwater sinkholes and those joining the first manned submersible dive to the site are encouraged to “expect the unexpected”.

Guillermo Söhnlein, 58, co-founded OceanGate in 2009 with Stockton Rush, who died in last year’s submersible implosion at the age of 61.

After leaving the company in 2013, Mr Söhnlein co-founded another underwater exploration company called Blue Marble Exploration, and it has set its sights on the 663-feet hole, which has previously only been “virtually explored”.

In a now-deleted post about the upcoming expedition, Blue Marble explained the local superstitions behind the sinkhole, which will see the explorers enveloped “in complete darkness”.

“Locals believe that Dean’s is a portal to hell and the devil himself lurks in the black depths,” Blue Marble Exploration’s website said.

“Each year, several people drown in Dean’s due to a variety of misfortunes. We fully expect to find human remains and prepare to handle those situations with proper respect for the families.”

The hole is reported to have claimed as many as 200 lives in recent years.

Uncharted waters, unforeseen currents, extreme pressure, near-complete darkness and the remote location are listed as challenges for the trip.

While the website previously said “join our expedition”, Mr Söhnlein has since confirmed to The Independent that it will be carried out by trained professionals only and not tourists, as was the case in the doomed OceanGate trip last June.

The ad for the mission read: “The next frontier for our team is in the underwater depths of Dean’s Blue Hole.

“In the first descent of crewed submersibles, equipped with LED lights and underwater drone technology, our scientists will be able to venture into some of Earth’s least hospitable conditions in search of unprecedented findings.”

Mr Söhnlein also confirmed to The Independent that certified submersibles will be used for the mission, which he stressed was always the intention even before the Titan implosion.

OceanGate used a controversial carbon fibre hull in the Titan, and it is believed this material weakened over time, resulting in last June’s “catastrophic implosion”.

Five people lost their lives when the sub imploded an estimated hour and 45 minutes into its dive to the Titanic wreck, which lies around 12,500 feet below the North Atlantic Ocean.

Mr Söhnlein, who also believes he can “safely” send humans to Venus, gave several interviews in the wake of last June’s disaster.

He told Reuters: “Let’s figure out what went wrong, let’s learn lessons and let’s get down there again.

“If anything, what we’re feeling is an even stronger imperative to continue doing this kind of exploration work. I think it’s important for humanity, and it’s probably the best way to honour the five crew members who gave up their lives doing something that they loved.”