Titanic Tourist Submarine Missing: Who Are the People Onboard?

A tourist submarine named "Titan," which was heading for the Titanic, is now missing off Canada. Rescuers are now racing to find and rescue its passengers.

According to Boston.com, the missing Titanic tourist submarine was led by OceanGate and was making its third voyage to the legendary shipwreck. There were five passengers aboard, including OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush. A spokesperson for the company confirmed he was aboard "Titan" when it went missing off Newfoundland.

Rush had defended the safety of his submersibles, saying, "What I worry about most are things that will stop me from being able to get to the surface - overhangs, fish nets, entanglement hazard." He also added that "a good pilot can avoid such perils."

The second person aboard was Blue Origin astronaut Hamish Harding, a British businessman and billionaire adventurer who holds three Guinness World Records, including the longest duration at full ocean depth by a crewed vessel.

The third and fourth people missing are also billionaires, regarded as part of Pakistan's most prominent families. They are Shahzada and Suleman Dawood. Their family has confirmed that the father-and-son duo were aboard the missing Titanic tourist submarine. Their family heads the Karachi-based Dawood Hercules Corp., which dabbles in agriculture, petrochemicals, and telecommunication infrastructure.

The final member is Paul-Henry Nargeolet, a French Titanic expert and former officer of the French Navy. He previously served as the expedition leader on what was considered the "most technologically advanced dive to Titanic" back in 2010. That expedition used high-resolution sonar and 3D optical imaging on the sunken ship's bow and stern sections.

Rescue Teams Searching Wide Area for the 'Titan'

Contact with the "Titan" was lost around an hour and 45 minutes into the expedition on Sunday morning. Now, US Coast Guard, the Canadian Coast Guard, and Canadian Armed Forces are racing against time as the vessel is said to only have a 96-hour oxygen supply.

Aside from US and Canadian forces, France is also sending its own team to help in the search, as one of its most prominent citizens is also aboard.

ABC News pointed out that the search area is around 7,600 square miles, an area wider than the state of Connecticut. As of writing, the sub may only have less than 36 hours of oxygen left.

Missing Titanic Tourist Submarine Still Has Unanswered Questions

Stockton Rush has repeatedly assured that the submarine is safe and high-tech. However, why did it go offline and unable to communicate with the surface ship?

According to The Independent, the sub uses two systems to communicate with its surface ship, with safety pings being emitted every 15 minutes to indicate its location. However, it stopped working.

One possibility presented by longtime tech journalist David Pogue was that the "Titan" might have lost all its power. However, the worst possibility was that the ship developed a hull breach, and it imploded instantly. Another possibility was that the submarine came into contact with the Titanic but somehow got stuck in the wreck or had its onboard systems disabled.

It was pointed out that the amount of time when contact was lost and the amount of time to reach the Titanic are roughly the same.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Missing Titanic Tourist Submarine Search Continues - Inside Edition