The US Coast Guard has launched a search for a missing submarine on a tourist exhibition of the wreckage of the Titanic.
According to the BBC, the small sub takes tourists to view the wreckage, at about 12,500 feet at the bottom of the ocean, off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. The unique experience costs $250,000.
The New York Post reports that the private company that provides the tours, OceanGate Expeditions, said in a statement, “Our entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families. We are exploring and mobilizing all options to bring the crew back safely.”
According to the Coast Guard, as of early Monday afternoon, the sub has just 72 hours of oxygen left.
On board the missing vessel is British billionaire and world explorer Hamish Harding, Chairman of Action Aviation.
The traveler boasted about finally being able to get to see the Titanic, noting that because of the poor weather persisting in Newfoundland, Monday morning’s mission would be the only one of 2023.
“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,” Harding wrote before the dive.
His stepson, Brian Szasz, shared Harding’s post, writing: “Thoughts and prayers for my stepfather Hamish Harding as his Submarine has gone missing exploring Titanic. Search and rescue mission is underway.”
Harding shared his current adventure on social media on Instagram:
“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.
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. 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.
More expedition updates to follow IF the weather holds!”
RMS TITANIC EXPEDITION 2023
4am start this morning on the RMS Titanic Expedition Mission 5 with @oceangateexped. The sub had a successful launch and Hamish is currently diving.
Stay tuned for further updates!@the_explorers_club @ActionAviation0 #titanic #titansub #discovery pic.twitter.com/qVGoYeHVwd
— Action Aviation (@actionaviation) June 18, 2023
The adventurous Harding joined Blue Origin’s 5th human space flight in 2022.
