Pilot of Doomed “Titan” Sub Wanted to Do First Test Dive by Himself in Case ‘Anything Happens': Hearing

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"I don't want to risk anybody else," Guillermo Söhnlein, the co-founder of OceanGate, recalled CEO Stockton Rush telling him years earlier

<p>U.S. Coast Guard; EyePress News/Shutterstock</p> Guillermo Sohnlein, Stockton Rush

Years before Stockton Rush piloted the Titan submersible on a doomed voyage that killed five passengers, including himself, the CEO insisted on doing the sub's first crewed test dive by himself, just in case something happened, according to the man he co-founded OceanGate with.

Although much of what's been said about Rush during the Coast Guard ongoing hearing into the tragedy has been critical, Guillermo Söhnlein, who co-founded OceanGate with Rush in 2009, portrayed Rush in a more positive light.

During his testimony on Monday, Sept. 23, the entrepreneur, who left the company in 2013, said that Rush insisted on doing the first dive to 4,000 meters by himself.

He said Rush told him he didn't "want anybody else on that sub."

"If anything happens, I want it to only impact me. It's my design. I believe in it. I trust it, but I don't want to risk anybody else and I'm gonna go by myself," Söhnlein, who did not specify when the dive took place, recalled Rush saying.

Söhnlein claimed that neither co-founder was "driven by tourism," and that "the reason we got into this was because we both wanted to explore."

As for why he left the company, the businessman said that the decision was made as OceanGate shifted into building submersibles.

"We were transitioning from an operations phase to an engineering phase, and that was really his strength and not mine," Söhnlein said. "It made sense for him to take the reins of the company."

Earlier in the hearing, former OceanGate operation director David Lochridge didn't mince words when sharing his views on Rush or the company.

“The whole idea behind the company was to make money,” he said at one point, going on to claim that during a 2016 dive, Rush fell into a “panic” while piloting due to a lack of experience. However, a former OceanGate mission specialist — a title given to paying passengers or observers of the company's underwater dives — went on to refute that account.

“He must have gone on a different dive,” said Renata Rojas, who was part of the small group of passengers on the dive that day. “Nobody was panicking. Nobody was crying and there was definitely no swearing or yelling.”

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Much like Rojas, although Söhnlein agreed that "five people should not have lost their lives" as a result of the Titan voyage, he said that he hoped the tragedy won't be the end for deep sea exploration efforts.

"I can only hope that others will be inspired by the mission Stockton and I started," he added.

During the hearing, which is expected to end this week, the Coast Guard will “review testimony from technical experts, crew members, and other relevant parties, and will examine evidence related to the submersible’s design, operation, and safety protocols." Afterward, investigators will submit a final report.

In a statement obtained by PEOPLE, a spokesperson for OceanGate, which has suspended all business activity and "has no full-time employees," said the company has "been fully fully cooperating with the Coast Guard and NTSB [National Transportation Safety Board] investigations since they began, including at the ongoing public hearing convened by the Coast Guard. OceanGate is represented at the hearing by Jane Shvets and Adrianna Finger of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP."

"OceanGate expresses our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those who died in the tragic implosion of the Titan," the statement continued. "There are no words to ease the loss endured by the families impacted by this devastating incident, but we hope that this hearing will help shed light on the cause of the tragedy."

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