Search Continues for Missing Tourist Submarine with 5 Aboard Titanic Site
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US and Canadian ships and planes continued their search for a submarine that transported wealthy tourists to visit the wreckage site of the Titanic off the coast of Canada, where the ship remained missing for a third day on Tuesday.
A pilot and four passengers were aboard the submarine that went missing on Sunday, the US Coast Guard said, adding that the submarine can stay underwater for up to 96 hours, although it was not clear if it resurfaced but was unable to communicate. .
Among those on board the submarine called Titan, the highlight of the $250,000 per person tourist expedition, were British billionaire Hamish Harding and Pakistani businessman Shahzada Daoud with his son. French media reported that 77-year-old French explorer Paul-Henri Nargolet was on board.
“We are very grateful for the concern expressed by our colleagues and friends and would like to ask everyone to pray for their safety,” Dawood’s family said on Tuesday.
US and Canadian ships and planes began swarming the area Monday about 1,450 kilometers (900 miles) east of Cape Cod, some dropping sonar buoys that can monitor down to 13,000 feet (3,962 metres), according to US Coast Guard Commander John Mauger. He said.
“We are deploying every available asset to make sure we can locate the vehicle and rescue the people on board,” he told reporters on Monday. “It’s a remote area and it’s hard to do research in that remote area.”
He said officials had asked merchant ships for help.
The wreck of the Titanic, which sank in 1912 after hitting an iceberg, lies at an altitude of 3,810 meters (12,500 feet). Titan usually takes two hours to descend to the wreck.
OceanGate Expeditions, the private company that operates the submarine, said it was “mobilizing all options” to rescue those aboard Titan.
The US Coast Guard said on Twitter that a surfaced boat — the Polar Prince — lost contact with the submarine about an hour and 45 minutes after it began diving toward the Titanic wreck site on Sunday.
Harding’s stepson wrote on Facebook that Harding “disappeared on the submarine” asking for “ideas and invitations,” but later removed the post citing respect for the family’s privacy.
Billionaire on board
Harding, a UAE-based entrepreneur and adventurer and chairman of Action Aviation, posted on Facebook that he would be on the submarine.
The expedition headed out to sea on Friday, and the first dive was scheduled for Sunday morning, according to Harding’s website.
Tourist Daoud is the Vice President of Engro Corporation, one of Pakistan’s largest conglomerates whose investments range from fertilizers and energy to automobile manufacturing.
The California-based SETI Research Institute, of which he is a trustee, said on its website that Daoud lives in Britain with his wife and two children.
The expeditions begin in St. John’s, Newfoundland, before heading some 400 miles (400 miles) into the Atlantic Ocean to the wreck site, according to the OceanGate website.
The British passenger liner sank on its maiden voyage, killing more than 1,500 people, a tragedy immortalized in books and movies, including 1997’s Titanic.