An American national, another British national, two UK-resident Pakistanis with British passports and a Frenchman were traveling with the small submersible Titan, which disappeared in North Atlantic waters on Sunday after descending to the wreck of Titanic, the Transatlantic The liner sank in 1912 on its maiden voyage. Less than two hours into the dive, Titan disappeared from radar, prompting a desperate search against time and the complexities of the ocean. This Thursday, the US Coast Guard reported that they assume that all occupants of the submersible are dead.
The Titan submersible from OceanGate Expeditions. Photo: Portal | Video: EPV
The Titan was chartered by OceanGate Expeditions and the company’s founder and CEO, Stockton Rush, served as pilot, proof of his confidence in the unit’s safety despite several warnings of possible problems. In addition to Rush, there were four other men. Two of them were multi-millionaires who decided to pay a large sum of money to see the remains of the Titanic. Hamish Harding was a multiple Guinness Record-holding adventurer who previously traveled to space on a Blue Origin rocket, owned by Jeff Bezos. The other, Shahzada Dawood, was with her 19-year-old son Suleman on their great adventure together. The fifth occupant of the submersible was Paul-Henri Nargeolet, one of Titanic’s greatest experts, whose wreck he had traveled 37 times and who had the perfect leadership profile for the expedition.
Stockton Rush
“Stockton took risks. He was smart. He had a vision, he wanted to move things forward,” Greg Stone, an oceanographer and friend of Titan’s pilot, said Tuesday, calling him a “true pioneer” in submersible innovation. Stockton Rush, a 61-year-old aerospace engineer, founded OceanGate in 2009 in Everett, just outside of Seattle. The company began taking tourists to the Titanic in 2021.
In an interview with CBS News last year, Rush defended the safety of his submersible but said nothing is without risk. “What worries me the most are the things that prevent us from reaching the surface: ledges, fishing nets, danger of entanglement,” he said, adding that a good pilot could avoid these dangers. Rush became the world’s youngest jet transport pilot in 1981 at the age of 19.
His wife, Wendy Rush, had a personal connection to the Titanic tragedy as the great-great-granddaughter of two deceased occupants.
Hamish Harding
Hamish Harding, 58, a billionaire British businessman and adventurer, lived in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He headed the Action Aviation company and paid to take part in the expedition. In a post published on his Facebook account on Saturday, Harding said he was “proud” to be part of the mission. Harding set three Guinness World Records, including the longest voyage by a manned ship on the ocean floor. In March 2021, he and marine researcher Victor Vescovo dived to the deepest depths of the Mariana Trench. In June 2022, he flew into space on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket.
Paul Henri Nargeolet
Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a 77-year-old Frenchman, was a former officer in his country’s Navy and an expert on the Titanic, having made multiple trips to the wreck over several decades. He was head of underwater research for E/M Group and RMS Titanic, conducted 37 dives on the wreck and oversaw the recovery of 5,000 artifacts.
He was Expedition Leader on the Titanic’s most technologically advanced dive in 2010, using high-resolution sonar and 3D optical imaging of the bow, stern and debris fields. In 1987, while working at the French Institute for Marine Research and Exploitation, he led the first Titanic salvage expedition.
Shahzada Dawood
Shahzada Dawood, 48, a British-Pakistani national, boarded the Titan with her 19-year-old son Suleman. Both were members of one of Pakistan’s most prominent families. His Karachi-based company, Dawood Hercules, is active in agriculture, petrochemicals and telecommunications infrastructure and is owned by conglomerate Engro, of which he was vice president (his father Hussain chairs the company). Both companies are listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange. He was also a member of the Board of Trustees of the California-based SETI Institute, which searches for extraterrestrial information.
Suleman Dawood
Suleman, 19, was one of the two children of Shahzada Dawood, with whom he traveled aboard the Titan, and his wife Christine. The marriage also produced a daughter, Alina. The family lives in London. According to the family, Suleman is a “big fan of science fiction literature and learning new things.” He liked the Rubik’s Cube and played volleyball. He is a recent graduate of ACS International School in Cobham.
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