'Titan' Family Tragedy Averted Due to Son’s Warnings About Safety of Sub

Sean Bloom, 20, told his financier dad Jay Bloom there were too many red flags about the sub's ability to withstand the 'Titanic'-bound excursion, prompting the pair to back out of the trip

Las Vegas financier Jay Bloom was excited to give his Titanic-loving son Sean Bloom a “bucket list” thrill trip to the bottom of the ocean, but Sean started seeing red flags at every turn.

“The whole reason my dad didn’t go was because I told him, ‘Dude, this submarine cannot survive going that deep in the ocean,’ " Sean, 20, tells PEOPLE. “I was worried because I didn’t think the submarine could withstand that kind of pressure and it wasn’t meant to go that far.”

He and his friend Simon — who was also concerned about the safety of the Titan — began looking much harder at the actual submersible they would be in for the almost three-mile dive into the icy ocean off the coast of Newfoundland.

“That is a small submarine, with five people crammed inside,” Sean says. “It just felt super unsafe. Something was telling me this was not the move.”

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who was among the five people who died in the tragedy, flew out to Las Vegas to meet with Jay in March. They toured the Titanic exhibition at the Luxor Hotel and later talked about the expedition and the safety issues.

“He basically told me he knew I'm a helicopter pilot, and he said, 'This is safer than flying a helicopter. It's safer than scuba diving.' And at lunch he said, 'It's safer than crossing the street,' " Jay recounts. "He was a good guy, great heart, really believed in what he was doing and saying. But he didn't want to hear anything that conflicted with his world view, and he would just dismiss it.”

“He absolutely believed what he was saying," he continues. "But I didn't want to get into the safety concerns anymore, because he was so vested in his position. And anybody who questioned it just had a differing opinion."

Related: Hamish Harding Always 'Wanted to See' the 'Titanic' — Despite Risks — Says Longtime Friend and Explorer

Jay says Rush put a big push on him to book the trip. “He was doing research and he had some scientific endeavors that he was doing. He was using tourists to pay for it,” he recalls. “That's how he was financing his operation, by charging observers to go with him.”

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The businessman has posted texts on his Facebook page between him and Rush discussing the aborted plan to go on the excursion. Rush attempted to talk Jay into the voyage, even offering a substantial discount and calling Sean and his friend Simon “uninformed.”

“As late as the end of May, or in mid-May, he was texting me that they had spots open a week or two out. And he offered me a $100,000 off each of our tickets,” Jay reveals.

He says he felt the CEO did not think it would be dangerous for them to make the trip. “He was so passionate about this project, and he was such a believer. He drank his own Kool-Aid, and there was just no talking him out of it,” Jay explains. “I don't think Stockton understood the risk himself, or didn't want to understand the risk.”

Jay believes Rush's mistake was “not having some independent body review his work and take any criticism seriously.”

And he admits the prospect of seeing the Titanic with his own eyes was seductive.

“I mean, again, it's very, very exciting. Very sexy, diving to the Titanic. A great bucket list item,” he says. “But you want to do it so that you have future experiences. And just the safety — we couldn't get past the safety concerns.”

Ironically, Rush eventually filled the pair's seats with Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, 19. The teen, according to his aunt Azmeh Dawood, was “terrified” and “wasn’t up for the trip” but took it because it was Father’s Day and he wanted to do it for his dad.

Two fathers, two sons and two different decisions resulted in one family talking about a near miss and another grieving the loss of a teenager and his dad.

OceanGate age restrictions were only for people 17 years and younger. Some question whether people under 21 should have been allowed to take the dangerous voyage. But Sean says he was old enough to make an informed decision for himself.

“I made the informed decision not to do this,” he says. “I told [my father] it was a bad idea, and he listened to me and we both agreed not to go. It’s crazy that people who did go were in a similar situation as me and my dad.”

Related: Family of Billionaire and 19-Year-Old Son Who Died on ‘Titan’ Sub Honor Pair’s ‘Close Friendship’

Jay says seeing all the media coverage of the Titan tragedy is a constant reminder of just how close he and his son came to being among the victims.

“I can't escape it. Every time I turn on a television or open my computer, there's a story. They show the pictures of the people,” he says. “And I see this picture of this Pakistani businessman and his son. But for the grace of God, that would be our picture.”

For Sean, the first red flag that alarmed him about Rush was his arrival in Las Vegas, where Sean, Jay and Rush were set to meet. He says they asked why Rush was landing at a North Las Vegas airport rather than the commercial airports like McCarran.

“He’s like, 'Yeah, I built this plane with my hands, and I'm test-flying it right now.' And we’re like, ‘What?' That was my first red flag,” he explains.

But more than that was the submersible itself, he adds. Voicing a concern widely commented on in social media, he says he was stunned to learn that the submersible was piloted by a video game controller.

The more he looked into the Titan, the more his concerns grew. He had first thought the sub would be similar to the submarines used by Titanic discoverer Robert Ballard.

“The equipment they were using to go down there, these were massive submarines that were able to handle the pressure,” Sean says. “And the submarine Stockton was using just did not look at all ready. I just saw a bunch of red flags at the project. It didn’t seem like a safe operation.

“And now all this is coming out about how it wasn’t.”

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