Search expedited for missing Titanic submersible; 2 Pakistanis also aboard

BOSTON: Coastguard teams from the United States and Canada are currently engaged in a race against time to find a submersible vessel that has gone missing in the North Atlantic with two Pakistanis on board.

According to the US Coast Guard, one pilot and four passengers were on board. It added that the vessel could be submerged for 96 hours; however, it was unclear whether it was still underwater or had surfaced on the waters with the inability to communicate.

The two Pakistanis, who were aboard the missing vessel, were from the Dawood family. A statement issued by the family mentioned that their son Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman had “embarked on a journey to visit the remnants of the Titanic in the Atlantic Ocean".

As of now, the statement added, 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."

The vessel, operated by OceanGate Expeditions, was carrying five individuals, including a billionaire tourist, on a dive to explore the wreckage of the Titanic. It commenced its descent on Sunday morning, but contact with the surface was lost within two hours.

Among the passengers is British businessman Hamish Harding, who had shared his participation in the expedition on social media, as confirmed by his aviation company.

The US Coast Guard said it launched a sweeping search approximately 900 miles (1,450 kilometres) east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, while the Canadian Coast Guard said it too had activated fixed-wing aircraft and sent a ship to the search zone.

"It is a challenge to conduct a search in that remote area, but we are deploying all available assets to make sure that we can locate the craft and rescue the people on board," US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger told reporters in Boston, where he was overseeing the operation.

Time is a critical factor. The vessel has a range of 96 hours for a crew of five, and Mauger said Monday afternoon he believed it still had 70 or more hours of remaining oxygen.

On its website, OceanGate Expedition says a dive expedition to the Titanic site was "currently underway."

The company uses a submersible named Titan for its dives to a maximum depth of 4,000 meters (13,100 feet).

In a statement quoted by CBS News and other media outlets, OceanGate Expeditions said: "Our entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families."

Harding, a 58-year-old aviator, space tourist, and chairman of Dubai-based Action Aviation, had posted Sunday on his Instagram account that he was "proud to finally announce" he had joined the OceanGate Expedition "for their RMS TITANIC Mission as a mission specialist on the sub going down to the Titanic."

"A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow," he added.

Action Aviation posted Sunday on Twitter that "the sub had a successful launch and Hamish is currently diving," and included several photographs of Harding and mission staff on the ocean surface.

Harding himself wrote that "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."

The expeditions, which cost $250,000 per person, start in St John's, Newfoundland, before heading out approximately 400 miles into the Atlantic to the wreckage site, according to OceanGate's website.

In order to visit the wreck, passengers climb inside Titan, the five-person submersible, which takes two hours to descend approximately 12,500 feet (3,800 m) to the Titanic.

On surface or underwater?

The US Coast Guard has launched two C-130 planes to survey the surface, while Canada has deployed aircraft "which utilises sonar technology with buoys," Chief Petty Officer Robert Simpson told AFP.

He said that "after the expected time of return" for the submersible, the OceanGate ship "conducted an initial search and were unable to find anything or any sign of the submarine and they contacted the Coast Guard."

OceanGate said in its statement it was "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."

The Titanic hit an iceberg and sank in 1912 during its maiden voyage from England to New York with 2,224 passengers and crew on board. More than 1,500 people died in the tragedy.

The wreckage is in two main pieces 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, some 13,000 feet underwater. It was found in 1985 and remains a source of fascination and a lure for nautical experts and underwater tourists.

Without having studied the craft itself, Alistair Greig, professor of marine engineering at University College London, suggested two possible theories based on images of the vessel published by the press.

He said if it had an electrical or communications problem, it could have surfaced and remained floating, "waiting to be found."

"Another scenario is the pressure hull was compromised — a leak," he said in a statement. "Then the prognosis is not good."

While the submersible may still be intact during its dive, "there are very few vessels" able to go to the depth to which the Titan might have travelled.

Passengers aboard Titan

Five people were onboard the missing OceanGate submersible. Here is what we know about the passengers so far:

Shahzada Dawood 

Engro Board of Directors Vice Chairman Shahzada Dawood is a leading voice for institutionalising key international networks, including the World Economic Forum (WEF). 

He serves as Trustee on the Boards of both Engro Foundation and The Dawood Foundation and he joined the Board of Trustees of the SETI Institute in 2020. He also serves as director across boards of various companies within the Dawood Group, including Dawood Hercules Corporation Ltd and Dawood Lawrencepur Ltd.

British billionaire Hamish Harding

Action Aviation Chairman Hamish Harding is based in the United Arab Emirates, where his company's headquarters is. Action Aviation is a sales and operations company offering a range of services in the business aviation industry.

The Harding is a self-proclaimed world explorer. He holds a Guinness world record for being the fastest person to go around the world in an aircraft and also participated in the fifth human space flight by the aerospace company founded by Jeff Bezos.

Paul-Henry Nargeolet

French submersible pilot Paul-Henry Nargeolet is a former commander in the French Navy with a career spanning 25 years. He was the captain of the deep submergence group of the navy during his years in service.

He then joined the French Institute for Research and Exploitation of the Sea (IFREMER). Nargeolet has been involved in several scientific trips worldwide, and the Titanic site was one of his many visits.

Stockton Rush

OceanGate CEO and Founder Stockton Rush was also on board the craft. He was a trained pilot who became a founder and member of the board of trustees of OceanGate Foundation — a non-profit organisation.