British Billionaire and an avid explorer, Hamish Harding, is one among the five missing on board the tourist submersible, which dived into the Atlantic Ocean to view the wreckage of the Titanic, on Sunday. Harding had collaborated with the Indian government to help bring 8 wild cheetahs from Namibia to the country.
The news of Harding’s disappearance was confirmed by Harding's stepson, Brian Szasz, in a tweet.
My stepdad Hamish Harding is on this Submarine thoughts and prayers. https://t.co/rPrHe5oB5V
— Brian (@audioguy182) June 19, 2023
The eight-day mission aboard a submersible vessel to see the Titanic debris is offered for $250,000 per person by OceanGate Expeditions which provides crewed submersible services.
The company confirmed that the small submarine lost contact at sea with 5 members on board.
The SOS was received about an hour and 45 minutes into its dive in the mid-Atlantic on Sunday.
The company is "exploring and mobilising all options to bring the crew back safely," it said in an official statement.
The submersible has about 30 hours of oxygen left according to the search authorities, the BBC reported.
Harding is the founder and chairman of Action Aviation, an aircraft brokerage company. He is also a prominent adventurer known for his global exploratory escapades.
The trip to Titanic's wreckage was the latest of his adventures.
He shared a post on Instagram about the dive on Saturday, a day before the five-person crew went missing.
"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. A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow," Harding wrote on Instagram.
The 58-year-old was also one of the passengers on Blue Origin’s fifth human spaceflight in June 2022.
In September 2022, Harding collaborated with the Indian government in the mission to bring eight wild cheetahs from Namibia to India.
He had helped in arranging a customised Boeing 747-400 aircraft to transport the cheetahs.
Along with Harding, British-Pakistani billionaire businessman Shahzada Dawood, his son Suleman, French diver Paul Henry Nargeolet, and OceanGate Expeditions CEO Stockton Rush are onboard the missing submersible.
Shahzada Dawood comes from one of the richest families in Pakistan. He is a trustee of the Seti Institute, a research organisation in California, according to its website and the chairman of Dawood Hercules Corporation, a part of the conglomerate, Dawood Group, owned by the family.
Former French Navy diver, Paul-Henry Nargeolet, who has explored the Titanic before, is also on the vessel.
