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A submersible carrying a pilot and four commercial passengers including a British billionaire, a French explorer and two members of one of Pakistan’s most prominent families, went missing on Sunday while traveling to the site of the Titanic wreck.
Canadian and U.S. rescue teams are searching for the vehicle that has less than four days of air supply. The mission was led by OceansGate, a privately-owned company that runs commercial projects, scientific research and exploration in deep water.
While authorities have yet to disclose who was on board, here’s what to know about the five submersible passengers that have been identified.
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Hamish Harding
British explorer and private jet dealer, Hamish Harding, 58, is the chairman of Action Aviation, a global sales company in business aviation.
He’s been to space and holds three Guinness World Records, including longest time spent traversing the deepest part of the ocean on a single dive and fastest circumnavigation of Earth via both geographic poles by airplane.
This trip is not the first time Harding paid for an extreme adventure. Las year, he attended spent 10-minutes in space on the New Shepherd rocket with Blue Origin, a space exploration company founded by Jeff Bezos.
“I am proud to finally announce that I joined OceanGate Expeditions for their RMS TITANIC Mission as a mission specialist on the sub going down to the Titanic,” Harding said in a Facebook post. “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.”
Shahzada Dawood, Suleman Dawood
Shahzada Dawood, 48, is a member of one of Pakistan’s most prominent families. He serves as the vice chairman on the board of Engro Corporation since 2003, according to the World Economic Forum, and joined the board of the SETI Institute, a non-profit research organization. He earned his Masters of Science degree in Global Textile Marketing in the United States at Philadelphia (now known as Jefferson) University.
He is traveling with his son, Suleman Dawood, according to the Associated Press. He also has a wife Christine and a daughter Alina.
Paul-Henry Nargeolet
French maritime explorer, Paul-Henry Nargeolet, 73, is the Director of Underwater Research Program at Premier Exhibitions, RMS Titanic, Inc, the only company with exclusive rights to recover the artifacts from the Titanic wreck.
Nargeolet’s friend David Gallo, a senior adviser for strategic initiatives and special projects at RMS Titanic, identified Nargeolet as one of the passengers on Tuesday during an interview with CNN.
He has completed 37 dives to the Titanic and retrieved over 5,000 artifacts, according to his profile on E/M Group’s website.
Stockton Rush
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush was confirmed as the fifth passenger of the submersible, serving as a member of the crew, the Associated Press reported.
Rush co-founded the company in 2009. He oversees OceanGate’s financial and engineering strategies, according to the company’s website.
In an interview last year with CBS News Unsung Science, he talked about his dreams of being an explorer − “I wanted to be sort of the Captain Kirk” − and fears about going underwater.
“What I worry about most are things that will stop me from being able to get to the surface,” he said.
Still, he insisted on the safety of submersibles and the value of taking risks.
“I mean, if you just want to be safe, don’t get out of bed,” he said.
How much is OceansGate’s Titanic trip
OceanGate’s website reports that the starting cost for the voyage is $250,000. For context, this is more than three times the median annual household income in the United States in 2021.
The trip spans eight days, with days three through seven spent in the Titanic, the submersible designed to explore the Titanic.
The website advertises that those who partake in the exploration will be one of less than 300 people who have visited the wreckage.
Contributing: Associated Press
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