A British billionaire and explorer, along with four others, are presumed dead after they went missing after their deep-sea submersible touring the Titanic wreckage failed to resurface on Sunday night, June 18 off the coast of St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada.
Rescue crews from the United States and Canada have been tirelessly searching for the missing submersible, which was predicted to run out of oxygen supply by Thursday.
Experts had previously cautioned about the dangerous nature of the operation, with customers well-informed of the potential risks involved.
The vessel, named “Titan” and operated by Oceangate Expeditions, was detected broken apart at a depth of 12,500 feet.
Hamish Harding, one of the passengers, sent a text message to his friend, retired NASA astronaut Col. Terry Virts, detailing the challenging weather conditions they had encountered during the journey. Virts later shared this information on ITV’s “Good Morning,” highlighting Harding’s awareness of the inherent dangers associated with the deep-sea expedition.
Joining Harding on the ill-fated voyage were Shahzada Dawood, a prominent British-Pakistani businessman, his son Sulaiman Dawood, and P.H. Nargeolet, a skilled French navy diver. The pilot of the submersible was Stockton Rush, the CEO and founder of OceanGate.
Oceangate Expeditions is renowned for offering exclusive tours of the Titanic wreckage, commanding a steep price tag of $250,000 per person. The operation necessitates a support ship to facilitate the submersion and resurfacing of the vessel during the eight-day-long tours.
The search efforts were concentrated approximately 900 miles from Cape Cod’s coast, at a staggering depth of 13,000 feet. The mission involved a combination of ships, aircraft, and a remotely operated vehicle capable of reaching depths of up to 20,000 feet, as revealed by David Concannon, an advisor to Oceangate.
On Thursday, June 22, debris from the submersible was found on the ocean floor, not far from the famous ship’s bow.
The landing frame and rear cover of the submersible were found at a depth of 12,500 feet, about 1,600 feet away from the wreckage of the Titanic. This development suggests that the vessel suffered a crack and imploded under extreme underwater pressure, resulting in the instant death of all five men on board.
