LATEST: Time running out as search for missing Titanic submarine goes on
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, said the people of the emirate are praying for the safe and “hopeful return home” of the five people on board the missing submersible that had been travelling to view the wreck of the RMS Titanic.
“While search teams are working hard to rescue passengers of the OceanGate Submarine: Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood, his son Suleman, Paul-Henry Nargeolet, and Stockton Rush; Dubai and its people pray for their safety and hopeful return home,” Sheikh Hamdan wrote on Twitter on Tuesday evening.
“We are following the updates anxiously and are unified in our prayers for them and their families during these difficult times.”
Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman were confirmed to be two of the passengers on board. A third is Hamish Harding, a British billionaire who lives in Dubai.
A French Navy pilot, Paul-Henry Nargeolet, and the boss of tour company OceanGate, Stockton Rush, were believed to be the other members of the voyage.
The Titanic wreck is located about 700km off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
Titanic tourist submersible goes missing – in pictures
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The pilot of a Royal Canadian Air Force maritime surveillance aircraft flies over the Atlantic during the search for the missing OceanGate submersible. Reuters -
A Royal Canadian Air Force serviceman drops sonar buoys from a surveillance aircraft. Reuters -
Capt Jamie Frederick of the US coastguard speaks to reporters about the search for the submersible, during a press conference in Boston, Massachusetts. AFP -
Carl Hartsfield, director and senior programme manager Oceanographic Systems Laboratory, faces reporters as Royal Navy Lt Cdr Rich Kantharia, left, and Capt Frederick look on during the news conference. AP -
Inside the submersible vessel Titan on a previous dive. The vessel is used to visit the wreckage site of the Titanic. PA -
Titan went missing on a dive to the Titanic wreck site this week. PA -
Businessman Shahzada Dawood, the vice-chairman of Karachi conglomerate Engro, and his son Suleman are on board the missing sub. AFP -
Paul-Henri Nargeolet, French explorer and director of a company that owns the rights to the Titanic wreck, is on board the submarine. Reuters -
The Titan submersible was taking five people to view the wreck of the Titanic when it went missing. AP -
UAE-based British space explorer Hamish Harding posted this image of himself in Canada a day before the expedition. Photo: Instagram -
Mr Harding, a businessman, receives his Blue Origin astronaut pin after a successful flight to space in June 2022. AP -
The submersible usually carries a pilot, three paying guests and a 'content expert'. It has enough oxygen for up to 96 hours. AP -
The Titanic sank on April 15, 1912, during its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, killing more than 1,500 of the 2,200 passengers on board. Getty -
The wreck, which was located in 1985, sits 3,800 metres at the bottom of the Atlantic, about 600km off Newfoundland. AFP
On Tuesday evening, the US Coast Guard and its Canadian counterpart said that the submersible has about 40 hours of air left.
Authorities are scouring a 20,000-square-kilometre area in the North Atlantic Ocean for the small vessel which has five people aboard.
