All five people on board the missing Titanic submarine have been identified, and they include a seasoned diver and maritime expert, a father/son duo who are members of one of Pakistan’s wealthiest families, and the CEO of the company in charge of the voyage.
The 22-foot-long submarine went missing Sunday after losing contact with its mothership while on an expedition to see the wreckage of the Titanic. The U.S. Coast Guard and the Canadian Coast Guard continued searching on Tuesday for the missing submersible, which had 70 to 96 hours of oxygen for the crew of five as of Monday afternoon.
Hamish Harding, a billionaire chairman of a Dubai-based company, was the first person identified on the submarine. Harding posted to Instagram about the expedition last weekend.
“Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023,” Harding said. “A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow. We started steaming from St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada yesterday and are planning to start dive operations around 4am tomorrow morning. Until then we have a lot of preparations and briefings to do.”
Harding was joined by British businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, according to The New York Times. Dawood is the vice chairman of the Engro Corporation, a conglomerate of businesses that began as a fertilizer company in the 1960s. He also sits on the Global Advisory Board for the Prince’s Trust International, which was founded by King Charles, and on the board of trustees for an institute that searches for evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence, The New York Post reported.
The 48-year-old father and his 19-year-old son are part of one of Pakistan’s wealthiest families.
“We are very grateful for the concern being shown by our colleagues and friends and would like to request everyone to pray for their safety while granting the family privacy at this time,” the Dawood family told the Associated Press. “The family is well looked after and are praying to Allah for the safe return of their family members.”
Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French maritime expert, is another passenger, according to his agent. Nargeolet is the director of underwater research for RMS Titanic Inc. and has been on more than 35 dives to the Titanic wreckage.
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The fifth person aboard the submersible is OceanGate CEO and founder Stockton Rush, according to The Daily Mail. Rush founded the company in 2009 and oversees OceanGate’s financial and engineering strategies, the company says on its website. The CEO said in an interview last year that what worried him the most about a voyage to the Titanic’s resting place “are things that will stop me from being able to get to the surface.”
“Overhangs, fish nets, entanglement hazards. And, that’s just a technique, piloting technique. It’s pretty clear – if it’s an overhang, don’t go under it. If there is a net, don’t go near it. So, you can avoid those if you are just slow and steady,” Rush added.