Topline
A Pakistani businessman and his son, as well as two crew members, have been identified along with British mogul Hamish Harding as the passengers inside the missing Titan submersible, which was diving in the Atlantic Ocean Sunday to bring tourists to see the wreck of the Titanic.
OceanGate CEO and co-founder Stockton Rush is thought to be onboard the missing submersible.
Key Facts
Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, is a passenger, his family told media outlets—he is the vice chairman and a board member of Engro Corp., a Pakistan-based conglomerate that started as an agriculture-focused business, but now covers energy, petrochemicals and telecommunications infrastructure.
Dawood’s son Suleman Dawood, 19, is also on the sub, his family said, adding “there is limited information available” about the mission to rescue the sub.
Shahzada is the son of Hussain Dawood, the former CEO of Dawood Hercules Corp., a holding company that owns Engro Corp.
Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a 77-year-old diver and Titanic researcher also reportedly a passenger, has been the director of underwater research at RMS Titanic, Inc.—a company that owns exclusive rights to recover artifacts from the wreck—for more than 15 years, according to his LinkedIn profile, and has appeared in three documentaries about the Titanic and deep-sea diving.
Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, which is the Everett, Washington, company that owns the missing submersible, is believed to be onboard.
Hamish Harding, the chairman of British aircraft firm Action Aviation, posted on social media accounts Sunday that he would be onboard the submersible, as well—he has flown on one of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space flights and holds world records for flying around the world and deep-sea diving.
Crucial Quote
“If you are 11m or 11km down, if something bad happens, the result is the same,” Nargeolet told the Irish Examiner in a 2019 interview. “When you’re in very deep water, you’re dead before you realize that something is happening, so it’s just not a problem.”
Key Background
The 22-foot submersible diving more than two miles below the ocean’s surface to look at the wreck of the Titanic was reported missing Sunday morning, after it was scheduled to dive around 4 a.m., according to one of Harding’s posts. A search-and-rescue mission is ongoing, but there has been no communication with the sub. The vessel has life support capabilities that can last up to 96 hours, which gives rescuers until around midday on Thursday to find the five missing men. OceanGate Expeditions, which charges passengers $250,000 each for the 10-day mission to the shipwreck, said in a statement its “entire focus is on the wellbeing of the crew and every step possible is being taken to bring the five crew members back safely.”
Further Reading
Hamish Harding: What We Know About Aviation Mogul Onboard Missing Titanic Wreck Sub (Forbes)
Here’s What We Know About OceanGate’s Sub That Tours Titanic—Using 1 Button (Forbes)
5 Reportedly Missing After Titanic Wreck Tourism Vessel Disappears In Atlantic (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/katherinehamilton/2023/06/20/what-we-know-about-the-passengers-on-the-missing-titanic-submersible/