Missing Titanic sub: British billionaire among those on board lost vessel
Rachel Schilke
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A British billionaire is reportedly one of the crew members aboard the missing Titanic tourist submersible that spurred a Coast Guard search and rescue mission on Monday.
Billionaire Hamish Harding is one of the crew members aboard the Titan, a submersible that takes tourists to see the wreckage of the RMS Titanic. The vessel submerged Sunday morning and lost contact with the main ship about two hours later, the Coast Guard said.
MISSING TITANIC SUB: SEARCH MISSION UNDERWAY FOR SUBMERSIBLE LOST IN ATLANTIC OCEAN
Rear Adm. John Mauger, U.S. Coast Guard First District commander and lead for the search and rescue mission, said in a press briefing on Monday afternoon that the Coast Guard was notified on Sunday afternoon that the submersible had not arrived back on time or made contact with the main port.
Mauger said he could not comment on who is on board the vessel but confirmed that there are five crew members.
Harding’s family confirmed to Sky News that he was on the submersible. He is the founder of Active Aviation, an international aircraft brokerage company with headquarters in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and a world-renowned explorer.
French submersible pilot Paul-Henry Nargolet and Stockton Rush, CEO and founder of OceanGate Expeditions, are also reportedly on board.
Mauger said it was searching for the vessel approximately 900 miles off Cape Cod at a depth of roughly 13,000 feet, a remote area that is a “challenge” to search.
The vessel being submersible makes it more difficult to locate it, as the Coast Guard needs to determine whether it reached the surface or remains in the water. Air, underwater, and surface methods and crafts are being used to find the missing vessel, as well as sonar detectors, he said.
The vessel is designed to surface should there be any technical problems and carry 96 hours of life support. Mauger said the Coast Guard search and rescue team estimates that the submersible has anywhere from 70 to 96 hours of oxygen remaining, but they are working to narrow down that time frame.
OceanGate Expeditions, a company that deploys deep-sea vessels for tourists to view the Titanic shipwreck, confirmed that the missing 21-foot submersible, which is designed to hold a five-person crew, belonged to them. The company said it was “exploring and mobilizing all options” to bring the crew members back safely.
The vessel can dive to 13,120 feet “with a comfortable safety margin,” per the company. The wreckage of the Titanic sits about 12,500 feet beneath the Atlantic surface.
Mauger said in an earlier interview with Fox News’s America Reports that he would not speculate on the damage sustained to the submersible, if any, that caused it to lose contact with its main ship.
He said if the submersible is found submerged, the Coast Guard would need to rely on additional assistance from the U.S. Navy and Canadian Coast Guard, or even from the private industry, to carry out an underwater rescue for lives that are “potentially at risk.”
“This is on the site of a wreckage, the wreckage of the Titanic,” Mauger said. “And so there’s a lot of debris on the bottom. And locating an object on the bottom will be difficult. But we will bring all assets to bear that we can to try and find that submersible and rescue the crew members.”
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OceanGate Expeditions charges $250,000 for a spot on its 10-day total, eight-day at-sea expedition. To join the OceanGate Expeditions as a “mission specialist,” civilians must be at least 18 years old at the beginning of the voyage and must have “basic strength,” be able to board small boats, and “be comfortable in dynamic environments where plans and timetables may change,” per the application.
“Every time a ship goes to sea, they encounter hazards and dangers, and so having properly prepared vessels, properly prepared crew members, and making sure that you practice emergency procedures — good practical advice for anybody that goes to sea,” Mauger said at the press briefing.