The five passengers who traveled aboard a submarine to view the wreckage of the Titanic but did not return last Sunday have now been identified. Pakistani tycoon Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman; Action Aviation Chairman Hamish Harding; French adventurer Paul-Henry Nargeolet; and Ocean Gate CEO Stockton Rush are said to be members of the unaccounted-for submarine.
The family of Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood confirmed that both are among the passengers on the submarine. "On Sunday, June 18, Mr. Shahzada Dawood, Vice Chairman of Engro Corporation Limited, along with his son, Suleman, embarked on a journey to visit the remnants of the Titanic in the Atlantic Ocean. All that we know so far is that contact was lost with their submersible craft. There is limited information available beyond this that we know, and we humbly request that speculation and theorization is avoided," the relatives said in a statement picked up by CNN.
It was known that Harding and Nargeolet were also traveling aboard the vessel after the British man posted on his Facebook account confirming his attendance on the trip along with the French adventurer.
I am proud to finally announce that I joined Ocean Gate Expeditions 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.
A search perimeter the size of Connecticut
U.S. Coast Guard First District Commandant John Mauger said they established a search perimeter the size of Connecticut overnight.
The rear admiral also confirmed that a commercial vessel was deployed to reinforce the search efforts.
The Department of Defense is helping
The Pentagon confirmed Tuesday that the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) is assisting in the search for the missing submarine. "The DOD is assisting in search operations. As of yesterday, there were two C-130s that conducted search and rescue flights and conducted a search flight over the area. By later today an Air National Guard C-130 will also join the search and conduct a search flight over the area. So, by the end of today, we would have committed three C-130s to conducting search and rescue flights," said Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh.
10,000 square miles of search
The U.S. Coast Guard Northeast reported that 10,000 square miles were searched during the course of this morning alone.
Seabed mapping company assists in the rescue
Magellan, a company that made digital scans of the Titanic and specializes in seabed mapping, announced that it is supporting the rescue mission of the submarine.
According to its statement, OceanGate contacted the company directly to request its assistance. "We have been working full-time with U.K. and U.S. agencies to secure the necessary air support to move our specialist equipment and support crew," it reported.
U.S. planes support the search
Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh reported that the U.S. deployed aircraft to Canada to search for the submarine. "U. S. Transportation Command is supporting the search effort with (3) C-17 aircraft that are transporting commercial, rescue-related cargo and equipment from Buffalo, NY to St Johns, Newfoundland," she said.
