Pakistani businessman, British adventurer and others: The 5 people aboard Titanic expedition sub

(This article has been updated with the latest development.)

Dubai-based British billionaire Hamish Harding and UK-based Pakistani business tycoon Shahzada Dawood and his son were among the five people on board the submersible that was supposed to take them to the wreckage of the Titanic.

The vessel, operated by OceanGate Expeditions, went missing on Sunday, prompting a massive, multinational rescue mission. On Thursday, parts of the sub was discovered — suggesting that the watercraft suffered a "catastrophic implosion", according to the US Coast Guard. All five passengers are believed to have died in the incident.

Here are the five members of Titan's crew:

Father-son duo

Shahzada, 48, and his 19-year-old son, Suleman, were among those who boarded the submarine before it lost contact with its mothership on Sunday.

The Dawoods were members of one of the most prominent business families in Pakistan, according to a Daily Mail report. Shahzada's father, Hussain, 79, is the Chairman of the Dawood Hercules Corporation, which makes chemicals, and the Engro Corporation, which makes fertilizer, food and energy, it added. Shahzada was the Vice-Chairman of both companies.

The businessman was a member of the Global Advisory Board for Prince Charles’ Charity, Prince’s Trust International, and joined the Board of Trustees of the SETI Institute in 2020, according to the World Economic Forum.

Shahzada was born in Pakistan but moved to the UK to study law at the University of Buckingham, according to the Daily Mail report cited above. He completed his M.Sc. in Global Textile Marketing from Philadelphia University, US, and LLB from Buckingham University, UK. He lived in the UK with his wife, Christine, and their children, Alina and Sulaiman.

Hamish Harding

A UAE expat for 15 years, British adventurer Harding was the chairman of Action Aviation, an international aircraft brokerage company with headquarters in Dubai. Harding, 58, was an accomplished aviator, holding an airline transport pilot's licence and business jet type ratings, including the Gulfstream G650.

He served as a trustee of the Explorers Club. In 2017, he collaborated with the Antarctic VIP tourism company White Desert to establish the first regular business jet service to Antarctica. He landed on Wolfsfang Runway, a newly created ice runway in Antarctica.

He held three Guinness World Records, including longest duration at full ocean depth by a crewed vessel, according to news agency Associated Press. In March 2021, he and ocean explorer Victor Vescovo dived to the lowest depth of the Mariana Trench, the AP reported, and added that he went into space on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket in June 2022. Besides going to space and exploring the depths of the ocean, Harding also travelled to the South Pole.

Paul-Henri Nargeolet

Others who feared lost are Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French explorer, and Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate Expeditions. Nargeolet, a 73-year-old French diver, was known as “Mr Titanic”, having spent more time than any other explorer at the wreck of the ill-fated liner, according to The Telegraph.

"After 22 years in the navy in mine disposal, Mr Nargeolet who specialises in deep-diving and piloting submersibles, had a variety of jobs, participating in the Five Deeps expedition, exploring the deepest parts of all five of the Earth’s oceans, breaking the record for deepest submersible dive, at 10,928m below surface level," The Telegraph said in its report before authorities announced that all the five passengers were feared lost.

He was in the first human expedition to visit the Titanic in 1987, just two years after the ghostly wreck was discovered by an autonomous sub, it added.

Stockton Rush

OpenGate's Rush spoke in an interview last year about his fears regarding the voyage but ultimately insisted his mission was safe. His company provides crewed submersible services for explorers who want to venture deep into the ocean.

Having trained as a pilot, he became the youngest jet transport rated pilot in the world at the age of 19, according to the Sky News.

He was also a founder and member of the board of trustees of non-profit organisation OceanGate Foundation, which aims to catalyse emerging marine technology to further discoveries in marine science, history and archaeology, it added.

In an interview with Sky News back in February, Rush spoke about the Titanic wreck. "What really strikes you is how beautiful it is," he said. "You don't normally see that on a shipwreck...It is an amazingly beautiful wreck."

The ill-fated submarine, called Titan, was headed to the famous shipwreck of the Titanic, which is sitting 12,500 ft underwater in the Atlantic Ocean, before it went missing.

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