Rescue workers work against time to locate the submersible that disappeared on Sunday off the island of Newfoundland (Canada), in the Atlantic Ocean.
The capsule submerged to reach the remains of the legendary Titanic, settled on the sea floor at a depth of 3,800 meters.
A full dive to the wreck, including descent and ascent, takes eight hours in total.
But the crew of the Titan ship, belonging to the OceanGate company, plost contact with base 1 hour and 45 minutes after submerging in the sea, according to the United States Coast Guard.
This body, together with Canadian forces, are trying to locate the ship, which had 96-hour oxygen reserves in case of an emergency.
OceanGate charges $250,000 per person for your eight-day expedition departing from Canada to view the famous shipwreck.
So far the identities of four of the five people traveling on the ship have been confirmed, and there are indications of the name of the other.
Hamish Harding
Going on a dive to see the wreckage of the Titanic required two things: a spirit of adventure and a lot of money.
British billionaire Hamish Harding, 58, has both.
Harding rode in the submersible on Sunday, his company Action Aviation and his stepson, Brian Szasz, said on social media in a post that he later deleted.
The space explorer and tourist, who resides in the United Arab Emirates, is founder of the Action Group and Chairman of Action Aviationan aviation sales and operations services company based in Dubai.
Graduated in Natural Sciences and Chemical Engineering at the University of Cambridge, Harding has been passionate about the sky and space since he was young, which is why he became a pilot and skydiver.
In 2022 he was decorated among the Living Legends of Aviation and is a member of the board of The Explorers Club, a renowned international club of explorers and scientists.
Harding has traveled several times to Antarctica, where he accompanied former astronaut Buzz Aldrin in 2016 when he became the oldest person to reach the South Pole at 86 years old.
In 2017, he collaborated with the luxury tourism company White Desert to introduce the first regular private jet service to Antarctica.
His spirit of adventure also led him into space. In June 2022 he traveled aboard the New Shepard in a suborbital flight as part of the NS-21 mission of Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’s company.
Harding holds three Guinness records: in 2019 he hit a plane the fastest circumnavigation of the world through the poles; and in 2021, together with the American Víctor Vescovo, he broke two distance and duration records in maximum ocean depth by descending to about 11,000 meters in the Mariana Trench.
Shahzada and Suleman Dawood
In a statement released Tuesday, the Dawood family confirmed that Shahzada Dawood and her son, Suleman Dawood, embarked on the voyage to visit the Titanic’s wreckage.
“We are very grateful for the concern shown by our colleagues and friends and would like to ask everyone to pray for his safety while ensuring the family’s privacy at this time.”
Shahzada Dawood, 48, is from one of the richest families in Pakistan.
He lives in Surrey, south London, with his wife, Christine, and their children Suleman, 19, who was also on the Titan, and Alina.
Born in Pakistan, he moved to the UK where he obtained a law degree from Buckingham University.
Among the roles he covers, Dawood is a member of the SETI Institute in California, whose mission is to explore, understand, and explain the origin and nature of life in the universe,
He is a member of the Founders Circle of the British Asian Trust, whose chairman is the British monarch, Charles III.
Paul-Henry Nargeolet
The BBC has confirmed that the prestigious French explorer Paul-Henry Nargeolet, a highly respected figure in the field of underwater research, is on board the missing submarine.
A former commander of the French Navy, he joined the French Institute for Research and Exploitation of the Sea (Ifremer) in 1986 and a year later led the first Titanic recovery expedition.
His extensive work at the Titanic wreck site stands out: as director of underwater research for the companies Experiential Media Group and RMS Titanic, he is considered an authority on the historic shipwreck which took place in 1912.
Nargeolet led several expeditions to the Titanic, completed 35 dives and oversaw the recovery of 5,000 objectsincluding a 20-tonne section of the Titanic’s hull known as the “big piece” now on display in Las Vegas, USA.
In 2010, he led an advanced expedition that created the first comprehensive survey map of the Titanic using high-resolution sonar, producing 3D images of the bow, stern and scattered wreckage on the seafloor.
Family spokesman Mathieu Johann said he hoped Nargeolet’s composure and military career would reassure the crew on board, even if the outcome of the operation did not depend on him.
The identity that has not been officially confirmed
The other person in the submarine would be Stockton Rush, of American origin, president of OceanGate, the manned submarine company for rental and scientific research, and a whole figure in the exploration of the depths of the sea.
Since its creation in 2009, the company has managed to create devices capable of reaching depths of 4,000 and 6,000 meters.
Rush began his career in the sky, becoming the world’s youngest transport jet pilot at just 19 years old in 1981. Three years later, he joined McDonnell Douglas Corporation as a flight test engineer for the F-15 program. .
His experience in the aerospace industry and his passion for the oceans crystallized in the founding of OceanGate in 2009.
And in 2012, he co-founded the OceanGate Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to driving advances in marine technology, science, history, and archaeology.
in 1989 built an experimental plane Glasair III which is still flying today.
He also created a two-person submarine by modifying a Kittredge K-350 model.
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