Titanic missing sub: What we know about the five victims
Rachel Schilke
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All five crew members of the missing submersible that left to tour the wreck of the Titanic a week ago are believed to be dead following the discovery of debris in the Atlantic Ocean that likely belongs to the vessel.
This marks the end of an almost-week-long search since the missing OceanGate submersible, which left for its expedition to view the Titanic wreckage on Sunday morning, disappeared roughly one hour and 45 minutes after its dive began.
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The Coast Guard estimated that the submersible had 96 hours of oxygen. Late Thursday, the agency said it had discovered debris consistent with the loss of the submersible’s pressure chamber, meaning that the crew members were likely dead.
The five people on board the vessel included Hamish Harding, the chairman of Action Aviation; Shahzada Dawood, the vice chairman of Engro Corporation Limited; Dawood’s son Suleman; Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a diver and Titanic researcher and director of underwater research at RMS Titanic; and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush.
Here is what we know about the victims of the missing Titanic submersible, the Titan.
Stockton Rush
Stockton Rush served as CEO and founder of OceanGate Expeditions, the company to which the vessel belonged. He founded OceanGate in 2009 to provide submersibles for undersea researchers and explorers, per the company website. Rush served as the Titan‘s pilot, company spokesman Andrew Von Kerens said via the Chicago Tribune.
OceanGate had organized more than a dozen trips since 2010 to different underwater wreckages. The company began bringing tourists to the Titanic shipwreck in 2021 and 2022 to document the ship’s decay and launched missions as recently as last week.
Rush had told CBS News in an interview last year that his submersibles were safe but that nothing came without risk. The vessel is designed to surface should there be any technical problems and can dive to 13,120 feet, per the website.
“What I worry about most are things that will stop me from being able to get to the surface — overhangs, fish nets, entanglement hazard,” Rush said, adding that a good pilot can avoid such perils.
Rush became the youngest jet transport-rated pilot in the world at age 19 in 1981 and flew commercial jets in college. In 1984, he joined McDonnell Douglas Corp. as a flight test engineer, and he has overseen the development of multiple successful IP ventures over the last 20 years.
“Stockton was a risk-taker. He was smart. He was, he had a vision, he wanted to push things forward,” Greg Stone, ocean scientist, and Rush’s friend, said, calling the CEO a “real pioneer.”
Hamish Harding
Hamish Harding was a billionaire and world-renowned explorer. He served as the founder and chairman of Active Aviation, an international aircraft brokerage company with headquarters in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Harding held three Guinness World Records, including one for the longest duration at full ocean depth by a crewed vessel. In 2021, he and ocean explorer Victor Vescovo dived to the lowest depth of the Mariana Trench. Harding also went into space on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket in June 2022.
“Both the Harding family and the team at Action Aviation are very grateful for all the kind messages of concern and support from our friends and colleagues,” the company said in a statement.
In a Facebook post, Harding announced he was “proud” to join OceanGate as a “mission specialist.”
“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. “The team on the sub has a couple of legendary explorers, some of which have done over 30 dives to the RMS Titanic since the 1980s including PH Nargeolet. More expedition updates to follow IF the weather holds!”
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Shahzada and Suleman Dawood
Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, father and son, were among the Titan‘s crew. They were members of one of Pakistan’s most prominent families and lived in the United Kingdom.
The family’s firm, Dawood Hercules Corp., is based in Karachi and is involved in agriculture, petrochemicals, and telecommunication infrastructure.
Shahzada Dawood had many roles and has over two decades in corporate governance. At the time of his death, he served as the vice chairman of Engro Corporation Limited. He was also on the board of trustees for the California-based SETI Institute, which searches for extraterrestrial intelligence.
Shahzada Dawood also was a member of the Global Advisory Board at the Prince’s Trust International, created by King Charles III to address youth unemployment.
“A very sad and unfortunate news. Prayers for the families of deceased. Mr. Dawood and family are in our prayers,” Salman Sufi, head of Pakistan Shahbaz Sharif’s strategic reforms, tweeted.
Paul-Henry Nargeolet
Paul-Henry Nargeolet was a former French naval officer and was considered an expert on the Titanic.
At the time of his death, Nargeolet was the director of underwater research for E/M Group Inc. and RMS Titanic Inc. He had completed 37 dives to the wreckage and supervised the recovery of 5,000 artifacts, according to his company profile.
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In 1987, he led the first recovery expedition to the Titanic while he was with the French Institute for Research and Exploitation of Sea.
In 2010, Nargeolet was the expedition leader on the most technologically advanced dive to the Titanic, which used high-resolution sonar and 3D optical imaging on the Titanic‘s stern and bow sections, as well as the debris field.