Featured Image Credit: engroenfrashare.com /Oceangate
Claire Reid
A father and son are onboard the submersible that went missing on a dive to find the wreck of the Titanic, their family have confirmed.
Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son Sulaiman Dawood, 19, are on the missing vessel which was set to plunge into the Atlantic Ocean to find the remains of the Titanic.
The family of Shahzada Dawood said: "Our son Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman, had embarked on a journey to visit the remnants of the Titanic in the Atlantic Ocean.
"As of now, contact has been lost with their submersible craft and there is limited information available."
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British billionaire Hamish Harding has also been named as a passenger, according to his stepson.
OceanGate, the company that owns the submersible, has confirmed that five crew people were onboard.
A company statement reads: “Our entire focus is on the crew members in the submersible and their families.”
Harding, 58, who is the founder of the billion-dollar Action Group, served as director on the record-breaking mission to orbit the Earth via both poles in 2019.
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Taking to Facebook, the billionaire's stepson confirmed that he was missing: "Thoughts and prayers for my Mom and Hamish Harding.
"Hamish Harding my stepfather has gone missing on submarine thoughts and prayers."
On June 17, Harding revealed on Instagram that he was 'proud' to be embarking on the mission.
"Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023," he wrote.
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"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 and are planning to start dive operations around 4am tomorrow morning.
"Until then we have a lot of preparations and briefings to do.
"The team on the sub has a couple of legendary explorers, some of which have done over 30 dives to the RMS Titanic since the 1980s including PH Nargeolet."
At a press conference yesterday (19 June) Rear Adm. John Mauger said the vessel had been designed with a 96 hour ‘emergency capability’, which means it has oxygen reserves that will last 96 hours.
"We anticipate there is somewhere between 70 and the full 96 hours available at this point," Mauger added.
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Frank Owen, a former submarine officer, warned the BBC that the challenge facing those on board is keeping their cool and not panicking and using up more oxygen.
He told the BBC that while there are supplies for up to 96 hours, if ‘they start panicking or moving around too much they could exceed those rates’.