A billionaire father and son have been named among the five people on board the missing submarine thatdisappeared on Sundaywhile heading to view the wreckage of theTitanic.
Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood were both “on a journey to visit the remnants of theTitanicin the Atlantic Ocean” when the vessel went missing, their family said in a statement to the BBC. “As of now, contact has been lost with their submersible craft and there is limited information available.”
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The trained jet pilot and owner of global sales company Action Aviation is based in the United Arab Emirates. He shared on Instagram Saturday that he would be a part of the trip.
“Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to theTitanicin 2023,” he wrote. “A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow. We started steaming from St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada yesterday [Friday] and are planning to start dive operations around 4 a.m. tomorrow morning [Sunday]. Until then we have a lot of preparations and briefings to do.”
Other members on board the craft,NBC Newsreported, include French diver Paul-Henry Nargeolet, who has decades of experience exploring theTitanic. A fifth person has only been identified as the vessel’s pilot.
The U.S. Coast Guard is running the search and rescue operation, in close collaboration with the Canadian Coast Guard.
They’re in a race against time. Coast Guard officials have warned that there is a 96-hour oxygen “reserve capacity” in the submarine, meaning that there is currently less than 48 hours of breathing air remaining.
“We really brought all assets that we have available to us to bear on finding the submersible and the people in it,” Rear Adm. John Mauger said at a news conference on Monday. “When something happens on the high seas, it gets complicated quickly.”
Officials shared that they conducted an aerial search and that sonar buoys have been dropped into the sea to try and track any noise underwater that might lead to finding the submarine.
The RMS Titanic.The Print Collector/Heritage Images via Getty
The Print Collector/Heritage Images via Getty
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OceanGate Expeditions owns the underwater vehicle, and charges passengers upwards of $250,000 to travel to the site of theTitanic’s 1912 crash to gaze upon the ship’s remains,CBS Newsreported. Participants on the excursion are able to document the rate of decay and catch glimpses of history.
In a statement obtained theBBC, OceanGate said, “Our 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,” they continued.
source: people.com
