A British billionaire and explorer, along with four others, were reported missing and are now presumed dead after a submersible deep-sea vessel touring the Titanic wreckage failed to resurface Sunday night, June 18, off the coast of St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada.
Noises had been detected from the vessel, and US and Canadian rescue crews were searching for days for the missing submersible that was running out of its oxygen supply and would be depleted by Thursday, June 22.
The “Titan,” operated by Oceangate Expeditions, was located, and imploded, at 12,500 feet in the ocean.
Hamish Harding, a 58-year-old billionaire, sent a text message to retired NASA astronaut Col. Terry Virts at the beginning of the expedition, stating that the weather conditions were improving after a rough few days. Virts disclosed the content of the message to ITV’s “Good Morning” and noted that Harding was fully aware of the expedition’s risks.
Other individuals on the missing submersible included Shahzada Dawood, a prominent businessman from Pakistan, his son Sulaiman Dawood, P.H. Nargeolet, a French navy diver and the CEO of OceanGate, Stockton Rush, who was piloting the Titan. Oceangate Expeditions conducts private Titanic wreck tours costing $250,000 each, which run over eight days and require a support ship for the vessel to descend and ascend.
The US Coast Guard mentioned a 70 to 96-hour window to find the lost submersible before oxygen supplies were depleted. The search was centered approximately 900 miles from Cape Cod’s coast, at an estimated depth of 13,000 feet. The rescue effort included aircraft and ships, and a remotely operated vehicle capable of diving 20,000 feet to the search area, as reported by Oceangate adviser David Concannon.
Experts tried to warn the company that the operation was dangerous.
On Thursday, June 22, debris from the doomed vessel was discovered on the ocean floor, close to the famous ship’s bow.
The landing frame and rear cover of the submersible vessel were found at a depth of about 12,500 feet, suggesting that the submersible suffered a crack and imploded under the pressure of the ocean, resulting in the immediate loss of all five passengers.