Rescue operations are underway to locate the tourist submersible which went missing near the wreck of the Titanic. The 21-feet submersible operated by OceanGate Expeditions had begun its descent to the wreck but eventually lost contact with the surface less than two hours later.
ALSO READ: Missing Titan submersible was using Elon Musk's satellites: 10 points update
US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger was quoted by AFP as saying that there was 70 or more hours of oxygen still remaining for the five people stranded underwater.
ALSO READ: Titanic tourist submersible, which went missing, charged ₹2 crore per person
British businessman Hamish Harding, French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, OceanGate Expeditions founder Stockton Rush, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Sulaiman are among those stranded.
Harding is known for his exploratory expeditions across the globe and also has a unique India connection. Here's everything you need to know about him.
1. Harding is the chairperson of aviation consultancy Action Aviation. Before his expedition to the Titanic wreckage, the Dubai-based tycoon had posted on social media that he was proud to head there as a ‘mission specialist’.
2. According to a PTI report, he had collaborated with the Modi government to reintroduce eight wild cheetahs from Namibia to India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had released those eight cheetahs in the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh on his birthday last year.
3. According to report, Harding had worked on a project with a company named White Desert for a regular business jet service to the Antarctic. He is said to have visited South Pole multiple times in the past. In 2016, he had accompanied famed former astronaut Buzz Aldrin to the South Pole, when the latter became the oldest person ever to reach the Antarctic region, at 86, a Reuters report said.
{{/usCountry}}3. According to report, Harding had worked on a project with a company named White Desert for a regular business jet service to the Antarctic. He is said to have visited South Pole multiple times in the past. In 2016, he had accompanied famed former astronaut Buzz Aldrin to the South Pole, when the latter became the oldest person ever to reach the Antarctic region, at 86, a Reuters report said.
{{/usCountry}}4. Hamish Harding had also flown into space last year on board Blue Origin's fifth human-crewed flight.
5. He is known for having set three world records - including the longest time spent at full ocean depth during a dive to the deepest part of the Mariana Trench.