Titan vessel. Photo: OceanGate
A desperate search and rescue operation is underway to find a tourist submarine that went missing during a voyage to the Titanic shipwreck.The submersible, the Titan, went missing on Sunday morning off the eastern Canadian coast of Newfoundland, just an hour and 45 minutes after it began its journey to the wreckage site. The vessel is owned and operated by OceanGate, a private company that organises dives. Five people are on board the Titan, including the CEO of OceanGate, Stockton Rush, British billionaire Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessmen Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman, and French explorer Paul Henry Nargeolet. The Titanic sits around 13,000 feet below sea level. OceanGate has been arranging dives to the wreckage site since 2021, charging up to $250,000 for a seat in one of its submarines. “Our entire focus is on the crew members in the submersible and their families,” OceanGate said in a statement. “We are deeply thankful for the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to re-establish contact with the submersible.”The search is being led by the US Coast Guard, with support from the US Navy, Canadian authorities and deep-sea firms. “We anticipate there is somewhere between 70 and the full 96 hours available at this point,” said John Mauger of the US Coast Guard in a press conference on Monday.
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