Billionaire Hamish Harding Named As Passenger On Missing Titanic Submarine

A billionaire has been named as one of the passengers missing on the submarine used to tour the Titanic wreck.

Five passengers onboard a small submarine went to visit the renowned ship that sank in 1912.

It was approximately one hour and 45 minutes into its journey that the US Coast Guard announced they have lost contact with the vehicle – which is believed to be lost somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean.

And now one of the passengers has been publicly named.

Watch as a journalist who has been on the now-missing submarine for a Titanic expedition explains what it’s like below…

Billionaire British explore Hamish Harding – the founder of aircraft company Action Aviation – has been confirmed to be one of the five onboard by his stepson Brian Szasz.

In a now-deleted Facebook post, he wrote: “Thoughts and prayers for my stepfather Hamish Harding as his Submarine has gone missing exploring Titanic. Search and rescue mission is underway.”

He later posted that he deleted the post out of privacy for his mother.

The official Instagram page for Action Aviation has also confirmed that he was on board the submarine.

Prior to his journey, Harding shared on his Instagram how excited he was to be part of the excursion.

He penned: “I am proud to finally announce that I joined @oceangateexped 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.

British billionaire Hamish Harding has been confirmed as one of the passengers on board the missing submarine. Credit: Alamy

“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.”

The tour to the infamous ship is provided by OceanGate and tickets cost $250,000 (£195,000) for an eight-day trip including dives to the wreck at a depth of 3,800m (12,500ft).

There are five seats on the submersible, including a pilot, a content expert and three customers who have paid for the excursion.

The trip down to the wreckage and back up to the surface reportedly takes around eight hours.

The company have confirmed that they are considering all options to rescue the passengers and they will be receiving assistance from government agencies, US and Canadian navies and commercial deep-sea firms.

The missing submarine is believed to be OceanGate’s Titan, a truck-sized sub which is designed to accommodate five people and typically equipped with a four-day emergency supply of oxygen.