Who’s on the missing Titanic tourist sub? The British billionaire, UK-based Pakistani businessman and French explorer trapped onboard the OceanGate vessel

• The five trapped crew members are led by British billionaire Hamish Harding
• US and Canadian ships and planes are well into their search for the vessel

The five Titanic tourists trapped in a missing submarine are led by Hamish Harding – the buccaneering British billionaire who has a Guinness world record for the longest duration spent at the bottom of the sea.

U.S. and Canadian ships and planes have swarmed the area about 900 miles east of Cape Cod, some dropping sonar buoys that can monitor to a depth of 13,000ft close to the Titanic.

Inside the sub, that can only be opened from the outside, are five men – some illustrious adventurers, others are amongst the richest in the world. 

British billionaire adventurer Harding is on the submarine lost while diving to the Titanic. Four others were with him, visiting the cursed shipwreck lying in the Atlantic almost three miles underwater.

Paul-Henri Nargeolet, the French world-renowned explorer, is also on board. OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush is believed to be the the third crew member. Shahzada Dawood, 48, a UK-based board member of the Prince’s Trust charity, and his son Sulaiman Dawood, 19, were on board the small underwater craft taking paying tourists to view the famous wreck. They are heirs to the great Dawood business dynasty and amongst the richest people in Pakistan – although they live in Surrey, England.

Among those taking part in the expedition is billionaire Hamish Harding, CEO of Action Aviation in Dubai. He excitedly posted to social media about being there on Sunday

French Navy veteran PH Nargeolet (left) is believed to be taking part in the expedition, along with Stockton Rush (right), CEO of the OceanGate Expedition

Shahzada Dawood (pictured) and his son Sulaiman Dawood were on board the small underwater craft take paying tourists to view the famous wreck

UK BILLIONAIRE GUINNESS WORLD RECORD HOLDER

Missing British billionaire Hamish Harding has a Guinness World Record for the longest duration spent at the bottom of the sea.

The London-born adventurer set it in 2021 after diving to the deepest place on Earth, the Mariana Trench, and traversing it for four hours and 15 minutes.

It was one of three Guinness world records the 58-year-old has earned. He set another one for the longest distance, three miles, covered at the bottom of the ocean. His first was set in 2019, for the fastest circumnavigation of the earth via North and South Poles in a Gulfstream 650ER business jet. And last year he went into space.

The father of two – who is friends with astronaut Buzz Aldrin – said recently: ‘I used to read the book of Guinness World Records regularly as a child.

‘I always wondered how I could get into it. I did not think I could do it. And I didn’t want to do something stupid like setting a record for the number of ping-pong balls bounced in a day, or something like that.’

Hamish Harding has been into space, visited both poles, circumnavigated the globe and holds three Guinness World Records

The crew is understood to have enough oxygen to last underwater until 12pm Thursday (7am EST). Pictured: Harding, who is aboard the sub, and his son

Harding was on the fifth Blue Origin – Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company – manned flight to space last year

As the frantic search for the Titanic submersible was under way yesterday, family members asked for prayers for Mr Harding as his latest adventure went awry.

The aviator, businessman and explorer is no stranger to perilous expeditions.

He told an interviewer in 2021 how his submarine, Challenger Deep, had sustained a damaged thruster during his journey to the ‘truly spectacular’ Mariana Trench, which lies seven miles below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. 

Harding said: ‘The sub has many safety features, including four days’ reserve of oxygen, water and emergency rations. 

‘The only problem is that there is no other sub that is capable of going down there to rescue you. 

‘It will take three years to build another one. So, having four days of supply doesn’t make a difference really. If something goes wrong, you are not coming back.’

Mr Harding also has the distinction of taking the oldest man – moon landing astronaut Aldrin, at the age of 86 – and the youngest, his 12-year-old son, to the South Pole, telling the interviewer: ‘Buzz is an old friend of mine. 

‘We had always talked about going to the South Pole together and we finally did it in 2016.’

And before another trip, he said: ‘People, especially as they grow older, tend to give up on their dreams. When I think of something unusual, I just try to find ways to make it happen.’ 

In 2016, he joined close friend Buzz Aldrin on an expedition to Antarctica, where the astronaut became the oldest person to reach the South Pole at the age of 86

Last year Mr Harding was awarded a Living Legends of Aviation honour by Morgan Freeman 

John Travolta hands Hamish Harding a Guinness World Record award after his success

He has previously said a love for space and aviation began while watching the Apollo moon landing aged five.

Last year Mr Harding was one of six astronauts to go to space on the fifth human spaceflightby Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company – Blue Origin – aboard its New Shepard rocket. 

Also last year, Mr Harding was awarded a Living Legends of Aviation honour by Morgan Freeman, an award previously given to his friend Mr Aldrin, as well as Richard Branson and Elon Musk. 

Ahead of this expedition he said he was ‘proud’ to be part of the OceanGate Expeditions crew, and suggested that it would be the year’s only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023 due to the ‘worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years.’

An only child, Mr Harding was born in Hammersmith, London, in 1964, and has degrees in natural sciences and chemical engineering from Cambridge University.

He lives in Dubai with wife Linda, and sons Rory, 18, and Giles, 15, as well as their two Golden Retrievers.

He also has a stepdaughter named Lauren and a stepson named Brian Szasz. 

Besides his life as an explorer, Mr Harding is the CEO and Chairman of Dubai-based aircraft sales and acquisition company, Action Aviation, which caters to the needs of the world’s wealthiest people, and has made him hugely wealthy himself.

SUB FOUNDER WHO DREAMED OF GOING TO SPACE

American Stockton Rush, CEO and founder of OceanGate, which operates the missing Titan submarine.

Mr Rush became the youngest jet pilot in the world at the age of 19, before becoming an aerospace engineer.

Before founding OceanGate, he personally built a Glasair III aircraft, and heavily modified a Kittredge K-350 two-man submersible, which has gone on over 30 dives to date.

All he wanted to be was an astronaut. He gained a prestigious aerospace degree from Princeton and then joined the US fighter jet programme – but his dream of going to space was shattered because he did not have 20/20 vision. 

Stockton Rush founded OceanGate in 2009, and is still CEO

Rush, in the sub, clutching its tiny controls, which closely resemble a games console controller

In a longform interview last year, Mr Rush said ‘if you just want to be safe, don’t get out of bed,’ in defence of his company’s expeditions

In 2009 he set up OceanGate Expeditions, which operates the tours. He wanted to make deep-ocean exploration more accessible to scientists and tourists.

In a longform interview with CBS News last year, the now-61-year-old repeatedly said that the explorers would be safe and had the oxygen necessary to survive, but did not appear unaware of the risks involved.

He said:  ‘There’s a limit. You know, at some point, safety just is pure waste.

‘If you just want to be safe, don’t get out of bed.’

OceanGate charges $250,000 (£195,000) for a coveted place on an eight-day expedition aboard research ship Polar Prince, which involves at least one dive aboard the small carbon-fibre submersible launched from the ship down to the wreck.

The company advertises it as ‘a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’ to ‘safely dive the Titanic wreckage site’ in a ‘12,500-foot journey to the bottom of the sea’.

Wealthy tourists are told that ‘if money isn’t an object and you don’t mind close quarters’, then they can ‘step outside of everyday life and discover something truly extraordinary’.

The Titan sub reportedly has no way of directing itself under water, instead relying on text messages from the mother ship which instructs it where to go.

The sub uses Elon Musk’s Starlink to communicate with the surface ship.

Last year, a CBS journalist was on the mother ship when the sub went off course. It was missing for two and a-half hours before it returned. None of those on board was harmed.

‘LEGENDARY’ FRENCH NAVY VETERAN WHO IS THE WORLD’S FINEST TITANIC EXPERT

Frenchman Paul-Henry Nargeolet is described as the ‘Titanic’s greatest explorer’.

The former naval officer has visited the wreck of the world’s most famous ship on at least 35 occasions.

In his career he has recovered 5,000 artefacts from the ship and has even lifted a 20-tonne section of the ship’s hull for analysis.

Paul-Henry Nargeolet is considered the world’s leading expert on the Titanic

 Mr Nargeolet has appeared on numerous documentaries about the wrecked ship

He led the first recovery expedition of the Titanic in 1987 after specialising in deep submersibles

He is the director of underwater research for RMS Titanic, Inc, and has appeared on numerous films and documentaries on the ship.

RMS Titanic Inc has said they send ‘our heartfelt support to the Boston Coast Guard during their search’ as well as hoping ‘for the safe return of all on board.’

PH, as he is known to friends, was born in Chamonix, in the French Alps, but spent his early years in Africa with his parents. 

Nargeolet spent more than 20 years in the French Navy, becoming a Commander. He then specialised in deep submersibles and in 1987 led the first recovery expedition of the Titanic.

When asked about how he copes with the dangers of being at the bottom of the Atlantic, he said: ‘If you are 11m or 11km down, if something bad happens, the result is the same.’

‘When you’re in very deep water, you’re dead before you realize that something is happening, so it’s just not a problem’.

Nargeolet was married to American newsreader Michelle Marsh until her death in 2017 aged just 63.

He now lives in Connecticut, while his children live in Cork, Ireland. 

ONE OF PAKISTAN’S RICHEST MEN AND HIS TEENAGE SON 

Shahzada Dawood, 48, (pictured with his wife Christine) a UK-based board member of the Prince’s Trust charity, and his son Sulaiman Dawood, 19, are amongst the five people missing in the submarine that set off to see the wreck of the Titanic, it was revealed today

Shahzada Dawood, 48, who is currently missing, is pictured here with his wife Christine 

Shahzada and his son Sulaiman (left) were in the tiny underwater craft when it lost signal in the Atlantic Ocean, 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada

Shahzada Dawood, 48, a UK-based board member of the Prince’s Trust charity, and his son Sulaiman Dawood, 19, were on board the small underwater craft taking paying tourists to view the famous wreck, which lies 12,500ft beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

‘We are very grateful for the concern being shown by our colleagues and friends and would like to request everyone to pray for their safety,’ the family said in a statement.

The Dawood family are amongst the richest in Pakistan, but have strong links to the UK and Shahzada is believed to live in a Surrey mansion with his wife Christine, who works as a life coach, son Sulaiman and daughter Alina.

They live in Surbiton, south-west London, but had gone to Canada for a month before the fateful Titanic expetition. 

Shahzada is the Vice Chairman of Engro Corporation, which makes fertilisers, food and energy, as well as the Dawood Hercules Corporation, which makes chemicals.

He was born in Pakistan but moved to the UK where he studied law at the University of Buckingham. 

He is also a trustee of SETI, the California-based research institute. SETI is a generic acronym that stands for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

Scientists doing SETI experiments are looking for proof – not merely of life elsewhere – but of intelligent beings in other star systems.

Shahzada also serves as a Member of the Global Advisory Board, Prince’s Trust International, contributing towards its vision that every young person should have a chance to succeed. 

He is also in the Founder’s Circle of The British Asian Trust, who have joined in sending their thoughts and prayers to the family.

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