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A couple from Georgia has an eerie connection to the submersible that is believed to have imploded while on a mission to visit the Titanic this week.
Jake Koehler and Kyndall Johnson have some experience exploring the sea and were interested in diving deep into the ocean to see the haunting wreckage of the Titanic for themselves. They were so determined to see the ship that they made plans to take a trip on the "Titan" OceanGate Expeditions submersible, the same vessel that the U.S. Navy believes imploded on Sunday (June 18) shortly after it launched and lost contact, per Channel 2 Action News.
"We found ourselves in Newfoundland teaming up with Ocean Explorations to do a dive on the Titanic. We did go on Mission 3. Everything you're seeing on the news right now is from Mission 5," said Koehler.
Fortunately for the couple, their plans to join the crew changed and they missed the doomed dive.
"We were on that exact ship 16 days ago," Johnson said, offering a grim glimpse of what could have happened to the couple. Koehler added, "Who knows, if everything lined up, weather conditions, I mean, we could have been in that exact same submersible and the outcome."
Johnson said they all knew the risks going into the dive, saying they "all signed the same contract" and that the company was "very upfront with us about all of the possibilities."
The sub lost contact with the world above shortly after is began its mission to explore the sunken wreckage of the Titanic, with the fate of everyone on board — OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, Hamish Harding, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood — revealed days later. After it was reported that the implosion is believed to have claimed the lives of all five people on board, Koehler and Johnson reflected on the the loss of the fellow sea lovers they got to know just days earlier.
"It's just a gut-wrenching feeling," said Koehler. "You know, these are people that we spent breakfast, lunch, and dinner with for nine days."
Johnson added, "Our hearts are obviously broken. These are people that we didn't know before this expedition, but we've got to know. [Stockton] and PH [Nargeolet] both were great people to us. They were so sweet."