In the wake of the likely implosion which resulted in the deaths of five passengers onboard the Titan submersible on their way to see the wreckage of the Titanic, messages seen by the BBC show OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush dismissing warnings that he was putting his clients at risk.
In the messages reviewed by the BBC, Rush told marine explorer Rob McCallum that he was "tired of industry players who try to use a safety argument to stop innovation," in response to McCallum's concerns about the safety of the vessel.
McCallum backed off when OceanGate's lawyers threatened legal action.
"I think you are potentially placing yourself and your clients in a dangerous dynamic," he wrote to Rush in March 2018. "In your race to Titanic you are mirroring that famous catch cry: 'She is unsinkable.'"
"We have heard the baseless cries of 'you are going to kill someone' way too often," Rush replied. "I take this as a serious personal insult."
McCallum said he repeatedly urged OceanGate to certify the Titan before using it for commercial tours, but the vessel was never certified or classed.
"Until a sub is classed, tested and proven it should not be used for commercial deep dive operations," he wrote in one email.
"I implore you to take every care in your testing and sea trials and to be very, very conservative," he added. "As much as I appreciate entrepreneurship and innovation, you are potentially putting an entire industry at risk."
Rush was among the five passengers who are now believed to have died. The others were British billionaire and explorer Hamish Harding, 58, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a 77-year-old French explorer, and Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman.
Read the full report at the BBC.