Titanic Tourist Submarine Goes Missing; British Billionaire Among Passengers

The search is on for a missing tourist submarine that took five passengers to see the wreck of the Titanic.

According to the US Coast Guard, via the BBC, contact with the craft was lost about one hour and 45 minutes into the dive, which started on Sunday (June 18).

Keep reading to find out more…

The missing vessel is reported to be OceanGate’s Titan submersible, which holds five people, and has a four-day supply of oxygen on board.

Among the passengers is British billionaire Hamish Harding, 58, who was also part of Jeff Bezos‘ Blue Origin Rocket; French submersible pilot Paul-Henry Nargeolet and CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, Stockton Rush.

Multiple government agencies are on alert and helping the rescue mission.

In a statement, OceanGate says that the “entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families.”

“We are deeply thankful for the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to re-establish contact with the submersible,” it continued.

According to OceanGate‘s website, each submersible will carry the pilot, a “content expert”, and three paying guests, who spend $250,000 for the expedition.

All the trips to what remains of Titanic’s 1912 wreckage set sail from Newfoundland and each full dive to the wreck, including the descent and ascent, reportedly takes around eight hours.

“We’re working as hard as possible, bringing all assets to bear to try and find the submersible. We were notified on Sunday afternoon,” Rear Admiral John Mauger, who is aiding the USCG said in a press conference. “We began immediately to mobilize assets to search both the surface of the water, search from the air, and to detect any vessels under the water as well. We’ve had a comprehensive search to find these people.”

Stay tuned for more updates on the situation…