A friend of missing billionaire Hamish Harding said she is ‘terrified’ as the time and opportunity to find the passengers alive on board the missing submersible is being lost.
OceanGate's Titan submersible has been the subject of a 'complex' search process after the small vessel went missing while travelling to the wreckage of the Titanic in the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday (18 June).
Five passengers are on board, including British billionaire Hamish Harding; French maritime expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet; Shahzada Dawood and his son Sulaiman; and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush.
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As friends and family of the missing crew wait for updates, Jannicke Mikkelsen, a friend of Harding, shared her concerns and detailed their last conversation before he set off on his Titanic adventure.
“I spoke to Hamish right before his dive,” the Norwegian film director and cinematographer told BBC News. “He casually just wrote that he’s on his way to the Titanic and he’s waiting for the perfect weather window. And me in an equally casual way just answered, ‘Godspeed, Hamish.’”
On Saturday (17 June), Harding announced his participation in OceanGate Expeditions’ RMS Titanic Mission on Instagram.
He addressed on the weather situation in Newfoundland and explained that a ‘weather window’ had opened up and the along with the rest of the crew, they planned to attempt a dive the next day.
“I am proud to finally announce that I joined @oceangateexped for their RMS TITANIC Mission as a mission specialist on the sub going down to the Titanic," Harding wrote.
Mikkelsen continued: “I’m nervous. I’m sick to my stomach with nerves. I’m terrified, I’m anxious. I’m not sleeping at the moment. I’m just hoping for good news. Every single second, every single minute feels like hours.”
Contact with the missing sub was lost on Sunday as it made a 3,800m descent to the Titanic wreck off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
Search authorities currently estimate that the vessel has less than 30 hours of oxygen left.
Mikkelsen shared her concern about the time that has passed since the vessel was reported missing.
“And we’re losing time, and we’re losing opportunity to find them alive," she said.
The US coast guard recently confirmed that a Canadian P-3 aircraft detected 'underwater noises in the search area' and two search crews have picked up 'banging noises' not far from where the submersible went missing.
A government memo from the Department of Homeland Security said sonar had been detecting regular 'banging noises' every 30 minutes and could still be heard at regular intervals hours later.
Remote underwater vehicles were redeployed in response to the banging noises and while they have not yet found anything, the search efforts continue.
Follow the latest updates on our live blog.
Gregory Robinson