Billionaire, Hamish Harding, and one of Pakistan’s richest men, Shahzada Dawood, are reported to be aboard the missing vessel that lost contact and went missing on Sunday during its deep ocean voyage towards the Titanic wreckage, according to Sky News.
Suleman Dawood, a university student, has been confirmed to be on the craft with his father, Shahzada Dawood.
Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate Inc., the company which owns and operates the tourist submersible, is on board as well, the company confirmed.
The missing crew also includes Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a Titanic researcher and diver who overseas Underwater Research at RMS Titanic Inc., according to the company.
Dubai-based British billionaire, Hamish Harding is no stranger to extreme adventure. In 2022, he was a passenger aboard Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket and has also made a 36,000-foot dive to the Challenger Deep, the lowest point in the Mariana Trench.
Harding posted photos of himself on Facebook this past Saturday, prior to OceanGate’s voyage to the wreckage of the Titanic, saying, “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.”
Pakistan-born Shahzada Dawood, 48, is the vice chairman of both Dawood Hercules Corporation, a chemical company, and Engro Corporation, which makes energy, food, and fertilizers. Now a British citizen and resident of the UK, he is one of the wealthiest men in Pakistan, according to The Daily Mail.
He is joined on the excursion by his teenage son, Suleman Dawood.
“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,” the Dawood family said.
The exclusive tour to view the Titanic is run by OceanGate Expeditions which charges as much as $250,000 per person to see the wreckage off Newfoundland’s coast.
Experts are estimating the sub’s location to be in an area roughly 900 miles east of Cape Cod. The U.S. Coast Guard has diligently searched 10,000 square miles for the missing vessel as of Tuesday morning.
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