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Co-founder of doomed OceanGate Titanic sub wants to send team to 'Portal of Hell'

Guillermo Shnlein is aiming to send another submersible down to the depths of the ocean in near pitch black conditions - he says it's the best way he can think of to honour the five men who died

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The co-founder of OceanGate says he thinks another trip will honour the men who died(Image: Getty Images)

The co-founder of OceanGate, the company whose sub imploded on the way to the wreckage of the Titanic, is launching a new expedition to the Portal of Hell in the Bahamas.

Guillermo Shnlein founded OceanGate with Stockton Rush in 2009 - Rush was one of the five people who were killed last year when the companys ocean submersible imploded so violently it's believed all the passengers were vaporised instantly at the bottom of the ocean after losing contact with the surface.

They were 45 minutes into a dive estimated to take 2 hours, and the disappearance of the vessel sparked a frantic search and rescue operation, as people feared the submersible could be adrift with the men locked inside, slowly running out of oxygen.

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An investigation into what caused the catastrophic implosion is still ongoing.

In 2013, Shnlein founded a second ocean exploration company after leaving OceanGate - he called it Blue Marble Exploration.

The Independent reports a now-deleted post on the companys website detailed a mission to the bottom of Deans Blue Hole - also known as the Portal of Hell - in the Bahamas. Its one of the worlds deepest ocean sinkholes and is notorious for how dangerous it is. Unforeseen currents, extreme pressure, lack of light and remote location all contribute to the locations challenges - it has claimed the lives of 200 people in recent years.

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Five people, including the co-founder of Ocean Gate died last year at the bottom of the ocean(Image: Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

The deleted post initially invited people to join Blue Marble Explorations team on the dive - however, Shnlein confirmed to The Independent this is no longer the case and the dive will be carried out by trained professionals only.

He told Reuters another expedition is one of the best ways he can think of to honour the people who died in last years horrific incident.

Lets figure out what went wrong, lets learn lessons and lets get down there again.

If anything, what were feeling is an even stronger imperative to continue doing this kind of exploration work.

He added the submersible used will be certified - unlike the one used by OceanGate last year.

OceanGates doomed submersible used a carbon fibre hull which is thought to have contributed to its implosion.

Despite this ill-fated mission, Shnlein is confident his other company is safe - so safe in fact he thinks he can send people not only to the depths of the ocean but into the furthest reaches of space to Venus.

Writing in his Humans2Venus blog , he claimed: We could embark on our Venusian journey TODAY ... and do it safely and cost-effectively.

This is in contrast to the scientific understanding that Venus is utterly uninhabitable for humans, with temperatures reaching 464C and an atmosphere filled with sulphuric acid.

Shnlein suggested that humans could live in floating cities about 50kms (30 miles) above the planets surface, where conditions are more inhabitable.

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