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Dubai resident, Pakistani businessman aboard Titanic expedition sub; ships, planes search for missing vessel
The technologically advanced submersible is reported to have a 96-hour oxygen supply starting Sunday morning, with five people on board
- PUBLISHED: Tue 20 Jun 2023, 10:26 AM UPDATED: Tue 20 Jun 2023, 12:19 PM
The submarine taking tourists to explore the wreckage of the Titanic, carrying five individuals, including British national and Dubai-based billionaire Hamish Harding, has been reported missing since Sunday afternoon. US and Canadian ships and planes searched on Monday for the watercraft.
The submersible lost contact at 4am on Sunday and has up to 96 hours of oxygen for a crew of five people: it has been underwater well over 24 hours. There was one pilot and four passengers on board and it was unclear whether it was still underwater or had surfaced and was unable to communicate.
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US and Canadian ships and planes have swarmed the area about 900 miles (1,450 km) east of Cape Cod, some dropping sonar buoys that can monitor to a depth of 13,000 feet (3,962 meters), US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger told reporters on Monday.
"It is a remote area and it is a challenge to conduct a search in that remote area," Mauger said. "We are deploying all available assets to make sure that we can locate the craft and rescue the people on board," he said. "Going into this evening we will continue to fly aircraft and move additional vessels."
Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman, were also on board, their family said in a statement. The Dawood family has released the following statement:
“As of now, contact has been lost with their submersible craft and there is limited information available. A rescue effort that is being jointly led by multiple government agencies and deep-sea companies is underway to reestablish contact with the submersible and bring them back safely.
“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 family is well looked after and are praying to Allah for the safe return of their family members."
The private company that operates the submarine, OceanGate Expeditions, said in a statement on Monday that it was "mobilising all options" to rescue those on board.
"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," the statement said.
The U.S. Coast Guard said earlier on Twitter that a boat on the surface - the Polar Prince - lost contact with the submarine, called the Titan, about one hour and 45 minutes after it began diving toward the site of the Titanic's wreckage on Sunday morning.
OceanGate said, "We are deeply thankful for the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to reestablish contact with the submersible."
What we know so far:
When and where did the Titan go missing?
The craft submerged Sunday morning, and its support vessel lost contact with it about an hour and 45 minutes later, according to the Coast Guard.
The vessel was reported overdue about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John's, Newfoundland, according to Canada's Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The Titan was being launched from an icebreaker that was hired by OceanGate and formerly operated by the Canadian Coast Guard. The ship ferried dozens of people and the submersible craft to the North Atlantic wreck site, where the Titan makes multiple dives.
David Concannon, an adviser to OceanGate, told The Associated Press on Monday that the submersible had a 96-hour oxygen supply. He said officials are working to get a remotely operated vehicle that can reach a depth of 6,000 meters (about 20,000 feet) to the site as soon as possible.
Who was on board?
British businessman Hamish Harding, who lives in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, was one of the mission specialists, according to Action Aviation, a company for which Harding serves as chairman.
Harding is an adventurer who holds three Guinness World Records, including the longest duration at full ocean depth by a crewed vessel. In March 2021, he and ocean explorer Victor Vescovo dived to the lowest depth of the Mariana Trench. In June 2022, he went into space on Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket.
Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, members of one of Pakistan's most prominent families, were also on board. Their eponymous firm invests in agriculture, industries and the health sector. Shahzada Dawood also is on the board of trustees for the California-based SETI Institute that searches for extraterrestrial intelligence.
What kind of deep-sea vessel was it?
Titan is capable of diving 4,000 meters or 13,120 feet “with a comfortable safety margin,” according to documents filed by the company in April with a U.S. District Court in Virginia that oversees Titanic matters.
In a May 2021 court filing, OceanGate said the Titan had an “unparalleled safety feature” that assesses the integrity of the hull throughout every dive. At the time of the filing, Titan had undergone more than 50 test dives, including to the equivalent depth of the Titanic, in deep waters off the Bahamas and in a pressure chamber, the company said.
During its 2022 expedition, OceanGate reported that the submersible had a battery issue on its first dive and had to be manually attached to its lifting platform, according to a November court filing.
What was the Titan's mission?
The goal of OceanGate's expeditions has been chronicle the Titanic's deterioration as well as the underwater ecosystem that shipwrecks often spawn.
What's left of the Titanic is slowly succumbing to metal-eating bacteria that consumes hundreds of pounds of iron a day. Holes pervade the wreckage, while the crow's nest is already gone. Some have predicted the ship could vanish in a matter of decades as holes yawn in the hull and sections disintegrate.
The company outfitted the Titan with high-definition cameras and multi-beam sonar equipment. Charting the wreck's decomposition can help scientists predict the fate of other deep-sea wrecks, including those that sank during the world wars. Another focus is the sea life: Hundreds of species have only been seen at the wreck.
"The ocean is taking this thing, and we need to document it before it all disappears or becomes unrecognizable,” Stockton Rush, president of OceanGate Expeditions, told The AP in 2021.
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