Among those wanted is the Frenchman Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, a specialist in deep diving.
Five people on board. The United States, Canada and France are engaged in a frantic race to find the passengers of the small submarine alive. Titan disappeared near the wreck of the Titanic on Sunday June 18, and which only have“about 40 hours” of oxygen. We take stock of what we know about the profile of the five missing persons.
A French passenger in the submarine
Frenchman Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, a specialist in deep-sea diving and a passion for maritime archeology, is on board the submarine. The Cité de la mer in Cherbourg confirmed to franceinfo its presence inside the submersible on Tuesday. Explorer of the seabed, he spent the first part of his career as a naval officer. Commander of the group of clearance divers in Cherbourg, he then became a submarine pilot in the French Navy. He then moved on to maritime archaeology, with the excavation of several wrecks. In 1986, he became responsible for the deep intervention submarines of the French Research Institute for the Exploitation of the Sea (Ifremer).
A British billionaire also on board
British businessman and billionaire Hamish Harding, 58, is also on board the submarine. He too is familiar with extreme explorations. Apart from his adventures, which he recounts on social networks, few details are known about the career and fortune of the CEO of the private jet sales company Action Aviation, founded in 2004. Hamish Harding went to space a year ago, aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket, for a ten-minute flight, marking the fifth successful manned mission for the company of Jeff Bezos, his “mentor”. He holds several mentions in the Guinness World Records.
Pakistani businessman and his son in the submersible
Also on board the submersible are a prominent Pakistani businessman and his son, their family said in a statement. They are Shahzada Dawood, 48, vice chairman of conglomerate Engro based in Karachi, southern Pakistan, and his 19-year-old son Suleman, both British citizens. Engro has investments in several business sectors: energy, agriculture, petrochemicals and telecommunications.
The fifth passenger would be the boss of OceanGate Expeditions
The fifth person, whose presence on board has not been confirmed by official sources, would be according to the media, Stockton Rush, the American boss of OceanGate Expeditions, organizer of the trip and which he founded in 2009. The company of the one Smithsonian Magazine describes as “the daredevil inventor” began in 2021 taking paying customers to see the wreckage of the Titanic aboard its purpose-built submersible. Stockton Rush said visiting the wreck was part of a marketing strategy as he tried to develop new innovations for submersible vessels.