A search is now underway after a submarine possibly carrying a billionaire explorer was reported missing on Monday while touring the wreckage of the Titanic.
The Coast Guard reports that they are “currently undergoing a search and rescue operation” to uncover the whereabouts of the missing submersible.
Reports indicate that billionaire British explorer Hamish Harding — chairman of a Dubai-based company called Action Aviation — may be one of the passengers aboard the missing submarine.
BREAKING: One of the crew members on the commercial sub that has gone missing near the wreck of the Titanic has been named as Hamish Harding
Full story: https://t.co/skuNHIjilt
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/vxkG9xKpT1
— Sky News (@SkyNews) June 19, 2023
“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,” an Instagram post from Harding read. “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,” the post continued, referring to French explorer Paul-Henry Nargeolet.
RMS TITANIC EXPEDITION
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.@ExplorersClub @actionaviation @One_More_Orbit #PolarPrince
Full story at:https://t.co/7UWUrKGyTQ
— Hamish Harding (@ActionAviation0) June 17, 2023
Harding’s stepson Brian Szasz asked for prayers for his stepfather in a post on Facebook, writing: “Thoughts and prayers for my stepfather Hamish Harding as his Submarine has gone missing exploring Titanic. Search and rescue mission is underway.”
The Coast Guard’s search and rescue mission is taking place in the location that the Titanic infamously sank in 1912, which is roughly 400 nautical miles off the coast of Newfoundland.
Tourists often visit the submerged ship using a submersible, and one of those submersibles is currently missing. According to numerous reports, it is not definitive whether Harding or Nargeolet are actually aboard the missing vessel.
This isn’t Harding’s first adventure — as the British billionaire, who is currently a resident of the United Arab Emirates, is known for embarking on numerous adventures across the world and beyond in recent years. Harding previously joined a Blue Origin spaceflight, explored the depths of the Mariana Trench and visited the South Pole, according to the New York Post.
