The identities of all five passengers who were on board the missing Titan submersible near the site of the Titanic shipwreck have been confirmed.
Rescue teams faced a desperate race against time as the search for the tourist vessel, Titan, after it disappeared from contact in the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday.
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According to the vessel’s operator OceanGate Expeditions, a maximum oxygen supply of 96 hours was on board in case of emergencies – though the US Coast Guard revealed that the submersible had been destroyed by a ‘catastrophic implosion’, killing those on board.
Days later, debris from the doomed Titan was brought to shore, with reports of presumed human remains being found – while 3D animations showed what the tragic implosion might have looked like.
British billionaire Hamish Harding was among those aboard the watercraft, on a voyage to visit the famous shipwreck around 435 miles south of Newfoundland, Canada.
The company’s chief executive and founder, Stockton Rush, is also understood to have been on board, with renowned French submersible pilot Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman, 19, were also travelling on the sub into the depths of the ocean, it has been confirmed.
Here, find out about the crew members on board. What do we know about the five men who lost their lives on Titan?
Hamish Harding
Hamish Harding was the chairman of private plane firm Action Aviation, which said he was one of the mission specialists on the five-person OceanGate Expeditions vessel that went missing on Sunday, June 18.
Mr Harding held three Guinness World Records, including the longest duration at full ocean depth by a crewed vessel when in March 2021, he and ocean explorer Victor Vescovo dived to the lowest depth of the Mariana Trench.
In June 2022, he went into space on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket.
His cousin, Kathleen Cosnett, told The Daily Telegraph she saw Mr Harding as ‘daring’ and ‘inquisitive’, and that she was ‘devastated’ to learn he was missing.
On social media last weekend, he said he was ‘proud to finally announce’ he would be aboard the mission to the wreck of the Titanic, the luxury ocean liner which hit an iceberg and sank in 1912, killing more than 1,500 people.
The Explorer’s Club, of which Mr Harding is a founding member of, shared the news of his disappearance on Instagram with club president Richard Garriot saying: ‘When I saw Hamish last week… his excitement about this expedition was palpable.
‘I know he was looking forward to conducting research at the site. We all join in the fervent hope that the submersible is located as quickly as possible and the crew is safe.’
Stockton Rush
Stockton Rush was the CEO and founder of OceanGate Inc, which is a company that provides crewed submersible services to enable researchers and explorers to access the vast resources of the ocean.
According to OceanGate’s website, he became the youngest jet transport rated pilot in the world when he obtained his DC-8 Type/Captain’s rating at the United Airlines Jet Training Institute in 1981 at the age of 19.
Discussing the Titanic, he told Sky News earlier this year: ‘What really strikes you is how beautiful it is.
‘You don’t normally see that on a shipwreck. It is an amazingly beautiful wreck.’
Mr Rush’s comments on the safety of the Titan submersible and plans for the vessel have also made headlines in recent days.
Paul-Henri Nargeolet
French Mariner Paul-Henri Nargeolet was one of the leading experts on the Titanic wreckage and was confirmed to be on the submersible by Mr Harding in a social media post on Saturday.
He wrote: ‘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.’
Born in Chamonix, France, he was considered a ‘leading authority’ on the Titanic, and listed as the Director of Underwater Research for E/M Group and RMS Titanic, Inc.
Shahzada Dawood and Suleman Dawood
Shahzada Dawood, 48, was a trustee of the SETI Institute in California, according to a biography published on its website. According to the biography, he was vice chairman of Dawood Hercules Corporation, part of the Dawood Group.
He was on the vessel with his 19-year-old son Suleman, allegedly as part of a Father’s Day trip.
Their family said in a statement earlier this week: ‘We are very grateful for the concern being shown by our colleagues and friends and would like to request everyone to pray for their safety while granting the family privacy at this time.
‘As of now, 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 family is well looked after and are praying to Allah for the safe return of their family members.’
Suleman’s mother has since spoken about her son’s plans to break a Rubik’s Cube world record on the dive – and heartbreakingly admitted she was set to board the sub instead.
MORE : First pictures of Titan show it imploded ‘in less than a second’, says expert
MORE : How many trips to the Titanic did the OceanGate Titan submersible make and how deep is the wreck?
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