Missing submersible on Titanic wreckage voyage: What we know about the crew and OceanGate
The United States and Canadian Coast Guards and the United States Department of Defense are conducting a massive search effort to rescue five people from the sea floor near the wreckage of the Titanic. An OceanGate submersible vessel, with only enough space for the company's CEO and four people who paid $250,000 each to view the wreckage of the Titanic, has been missing since Sunday evening.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the vessel only had around 40 hours of breathable air left, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The submarine will run out of oxygen sometime Thursday morning.
Here's what we know about OceanGate and the passengers aboard The Titan submarine.
Missing Titanic submarine live updates: Sub has 'about 40 hours of breathable air left'
Who is on OceanGate's Titan submarine?
OceanGate's founder and CEO, Stockton Rush, 61, is among those aboard the Titan, which lost contact with the Canadian research ship that lost contact with the sub an hour and 45 minutes after it submerged. It is believed to take about 2 hours to reach the Titanic from where The Titan was deployed.
Shahzada Dawood, 48, a British businessman from one of Pakistan's wealthiest families and his 19-year-old son Suleman are confirmed to be among the five passengers on the Titan.
British billionaire, aviator, explorer and Guinness World Record holder Hamish Harding, 58, is also confirmed to be on the submarine.
One of the leading experts on The Titanic, French Explorer Paul-Henry Nargeolet, 77, is the fifth passenger aboard The Titan.
Missing submarine: Company behind Titanic tour spent a year in South Florida
Where is the Titan submarine? How deep can it go?
The Titan, one of the world's only privately owned submarines, can travel in depths of up to 13,323 feet, at a speed of up to 3 knots. Search and rescue efforts are being managed out of Boston, but the submarine is somewhere off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. The wreckage of The Titanic is almost 13,000 feet under water.
How are they looking for the Titan submarine?
The U.S. Coast Guard and Canadian authorities are looking for the missing submarine using sonar. Commercial cargo ships, U.S. naval ships, sonar buoys and aircraft were all deployed to search for the submarine in the waters off Newfoundland's coast.
This isn't OceanGate's first mission to view The Titanic's wreckage
American science and technology writer and CBS Correspondent David Pogue went on a similar voyage with OceanGate last July. Pogue didn’t go underwater in The Titan, but he watched the experimental vessel submerge from the mothership.
He reported that the voyage was not smooth sailing, unsuccessful in finding The Titanic’s wreckage and hit a lot of speed bumps along the way.
OceanGate has been exploring Miami's artificial reefs since 2012
OceanGate opened its second location in Miami in 2012. According to OceanGate’s website, since then, the company has conducted over 15 dives around nine of the artificial reefs located off the coast of Miami.
The average depth for an OceanGate exploration dive in Miami is just over 280 feet deep, with the deepest dive at 800 feet.
Stockton Rush sued: Florida couple filed lawsuit against OceanGate CEO for canceled Titanic trip
A Florida couple filed a lawsuit against OceanGate's CEO for a canceled Titanic trip
In February, Marc and Sharon Hagle, Winter Park philanthropists who built a fortune through real estate, sued the now-missing OceanGate CEO, Stockton Rush for a Titanic voyage that never materialized.
Allegedly, Rush misled them about the trip to see The Titanic's wreckage and refused to refund them for their pricey tickets when they backed out, although he allegedly told the Hagles they'd be refunded.
Lianna Norman covers trending news in Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at lnorman@pbpost.com. You can follow her reporting on social media @LiannaNorman on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Missing submarine near The Titanic: What we know about OceanGate
