Rescuers are racing against time to save five people who were on board a tourist submersible visiting the wreck of Titanic in the North Atlantic. A British explorer, French military veteran, and submarine expert are reportedly part of the missing personnel on Titan.
The Titan, operated by Oceangate, is a small submarine with the capacity to remain submerged for 96 hours, but it has gone missing with five passengers on board. “It is unclear whether it is still underwater or is ashore due to broken communication,” the US coast guard shared with The Guardian. Further sharing that the submarine was overdue on Monday but lost communication on Sunday afternoon after 1 hour and 45 minutes of its dive.
Who are the missing people on the Titanic tourist submersible?
It seems that Paul-Henry Nargeolet is on board, he was part of the discovery of the wreck and wrote an amazing books about diving onto the wreck
I hope they all come back safely 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻 https://t.co/NTTRg0ABO3— Adam Driver Hair Fan Club 🇫🇷 🐀 (@adamdriverhair) June 19, 2023
One of the passengers amongst the five people on board is Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a former commander of the French navy and a deep diver and submersible driver. He is also the director of underwater research for E/M Group and RMS Titanic, Inc.
- Nargeolet is also possibly the leading authority of the wreck site and is in charge of the dive with four other passengers. He conducted many successful dives to the Titanic and recovered approximately 5000 valuable artifacts, including a 20-ton hull of the ship.
A British businessman and avid explorer, Hamish Harding, is also part of the small tourist crew on board the missing Titanic submersible. His stepson published a now-deleted post on Facebook sharing his thoughts and prayers for his father and the missing submarine.
- Harding also shared his excitement about going on this trip through his Instagram. He shared that due to the harsh and cold weather conditions in 2023, this trip might be the singular this year. “A weather window has opened up and we are going to attempt to dive tomorrow,” the 58-year-old explorer shared.
Been writing about the Titan and Stockton Rush’s OceanGate Expeditions for a few years with https://t.co/sGRowPFej2. Got to hang out in the Titan last summer. Hoping for a speedy recovery and safe return for all onboard. pic.twitter.com/CyXXGsqEiF
— Bonnie Belec (@BELECBONNIE) June 19, 2023
Along with them is the CEO of OceanGate Expedition, Stockton Rush, who oversees the financial and engineering strategies and provides a vision of the vessels traveling to the wreck. He is also the co-founder and member of the board of trustees of the OceanGate Foundation (2012).
- Rush is the youngest jet transport-rated pilot after graduating with a DC-8 Type/Captain’s rating at the United Airlines Jet Training Institute in 1981 at the age of 19. Over the past two decades, Stockton Rush has overseen the development of multiple successful IP ventures.
Update from the expedition organizing company OceanGate
#Titanic ##PolarPrince #MondayVibes – a 5-person, 21' Canadian submersible from Canada's Polar Prince dove Sunday on the Titanic. It is still missing. 🙁 Robert Ballard found Titanic. Later James Cameron dove on her to get footage for his movie. https://t.co/ThQu5y4XSU pic.twitter.com/J22ZTi7ZF5
— USAS – Historian, Traveler, Planet Earth Advocate! (@USAS_WW1) June 19, 2023
The RMS Titanic, a British passenger liner marketed as “unsinkable,” sank on its first voyage in April 1912. It was en route from Britain to the US when it hit an iceberg resulting in the death of 1,514 out of the 2,224 passengers and crew. The wreck was found in the 1980s, and following the fictional depiction in the 1997 film Titanic, the tragedy regained the sympathy of people.
OceanGate began taking small crews of “citizen scientists” in a mini-submarine two years ago. A single ticket on the 5-person sub costs $250,000. Since 2021, the Bahamas-based company has ferried about 60 customers and 15-20 researchers to the wreck.
- According to the company’s website, they had an eight-day, seven-night expedition to the Titanic planned for 12-20 June with a maximum of six passengers onboard departing and returning to St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada.
The company’s adviser, David Concannon, said Titan’s 96-hour oxygen supply started at roughly 6 AM on Sunday. In an email to the Associated Press, Concannon said officials were preparing to get a remotely operated vehicle that could reach a depth of 6,000m to the site of Titanic’s wreck as soon as possible.
- The company also shared a statement on Monday stating their entire focus is on the crew members who are present on the sub and their families. They shared their deepest gratitude for the extensive assistance from several government agencies and deep sea companies in their efforts to re-establish contact with the submersible.
Update regarding the rescue operation
Rear Admiral John Mauger, the district commander of the US coast guard, told a press conference that “Officials are doing everything they can do” to locate and rescue the sub and its occupants.
- The US Coast Guard shared the update with The Guardian stating the US and Canadian ships and planes covered the area about 1,450km east of Cape Cod, and some even dropped sonar buoys that can monitor the 4,000m depth of the ocean.
- Coast Guard furthermore stated that despite these attempts the search was “complex” because crews did not know if the vessel was underwater or had surfaced. Due to this, the officials are working on both the surface and the ocean depths of nearly 13,000 feet.
- “We’re making the best use of every second of the 96 hours and our focus is on finding those five people,” Mauger said.
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