Who are the five Titanic submarine victims? Expert, CEO, adventurer, father and son

All passengers on the Titan are believed to have died instantly in a catastrophic implosion deep underwater

Titan passengers (clockwise from top left) Hamish Harding, Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, and Paul-Henry Nargeolet. AFP

Titanic submarine latest: Tributes paid to five men killed in implosion

All five passengers on the Titan, which went missing on an expedition to the century-old wreck of the Titanic, are believed to have died instantly when the submersible imploded in the depths of the Atlantic.

Those on board included the owner of the vessel; a UAE-based British businessman and explorer; a Pakistan-born billionaire and his 19-year-old son; and a French diver and Titanic expert.

Here is what we know about them and the best of the tributes that have been paid.

Stockton Rush, 61

Stockton Rush was the chief executive of OceanGate – the company that built the Titan – and the man piloting the sub when it went missing on its dive down to the Titanic.

The company, which the experienced engineer co-founded in 2009, aimed to revolutionise underwater exploration of deep sea wrecks like the Titanic, opening the experience up to fee-paying passengers.

He described his first dive in the sub: “This is amazing. It’s just such a different experience. It’s a totally different emotion.”

OceanGate Chief Executive and co-founder Stockton Rush. AP

He was married to Wendy Rush, who is a descendant of first-class passengers who died on the Titanic in 1912.

Mr Rush spoke about his fascination with the wreck in an interview recorded for an episode of the BBC Travel programme.

“I read an article that said there are three words in the English language which are known throughout the planet,” Mr Rush said.

“That's Coca-Cola, God and Titanic.”

In the days since the sub went missing, long-standing concerns have emerged about the design of the craft, which Mr Rush had repeatedly dismissed.

“At some point, safety just is pure waste,” Mr Rush told journalist David Pogue in a podcast interview last year. “I mean, if you just want to be safe, don’t get out of bed. Don’t get in your car. Don’t do anything.”

However, tributes have been paid to his vision, with Mike Reiss, a writer and producer of The Simpsons who went on a Titanic dive in a different submersible with Mr Rush, calling him “the last of the American dreamers” in an interview with the New York Times.

Hamish Harding, 58

The British billionaire was a married father of two and a successful businessman and adventurer.

Living in the UAE since 2008, Mr Harding owned Action Aviation, a Dubai-based private jet dealership.

His trip on Titan was only the latest ambitious adventure for a man with a burning desire to push himself to the limits and journey into the unknown.

He held three Guinness World Records, which included the longest time spent traversing the deepest part of the ocean – the Mariana Trench – on a single dive, and the fastest circumnavigation of Earth via the North and South Poles by plane.

He had also flown to space as part of the fifth human space flight run by Jeff Bezos’s company Blue Origin.

In 2022, he received the Living Legends of Aviation award, which he described as an “honour” in his acceptance speech before thanking his wife and two sons as well as his “very loving, very beautiful, very loyal” golden retrievers.

Hamish Harding looks on before boarding the submersible Titan to dive into the Atlantic Ocean on an expedition to the Titanic. AP

His family paid tribute to him following the news of his death, calling him a “passionate explorer – whatever the terrain – who lived his life for his family, his business and for the next adventure”.

Richard Garriott de Cayeux, the president of The Explorers Club, to which Mr Harding belonged, said he had been looking forward to exploring the Titanic.

He said Mr Harding was “drawn to explore, like so many of us, and did so in the name of meaningful science for the betterment of mankind”.

Mr Harding wrote in a post on Instagram on Sunday that this was likely to be the only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023 “due to the worst weather in Newfoundland in 40 years”.

“A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow,” he wrote.

Shahzada Dawood, 48, and Suleman Dawood, 19

Pakistan-born British businessman Shahzada Dawood was travelling on the vessel with his son, Suleman, a first-year student at Strathclyde University who enjoyed solving Rubik's Cube puzzles and playing volleyball.

They were members of one of Pakistan’s most prominent families and their Karachi-based firm, Dawood Hercules Corp, is involved in agriculture, petrochemicals and telecoms infrastructure.

Hussain and Kulsum Dawood, the parents of Shahzada Dawood, paid tribute to their son and grandson, saying: “Their untiring efforts were a source of strength for us.”

Businessman Shahzada Dawood (right) and his son Suleman. AFP

They added: “The immense love and support we receive continues to help us to endure this unimaginable loss.”

“Our deepest condolences to the Dawood family and the family of other passengers on the sad news about the fate of Titanic submersible in the North Atlantic,” Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote on Twitter.

“We appreciate the multinational efforts over the last several days in search of the vessel.”

Paul-Henry Nargeolet, 77

Mr Nargeolet, known simply as PH to friends and colleagues, was a pre-eminent diver and considered the world’s leading expert on the Titanic wreck and its debris field.

He was the director of underwater research for Experiential Media Group, or E/M Group, which owns the rights to the wreck.

Mr Nargeolet was born in Chamonix, France, and lived with his family in Africa for 13 years, completed his studies in Paris and spent 22 years in the French Navy, rising to the rank of commander, according to a company profile.

Paul-Henry Nargeolet in 1996. AP

He led the first recovery expedition to the Titanic in 1987 after joining the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea.

Mr Nargeolet spoke to the Titanic Channel about what would happen to someone stuck at the site of the wreck, saying the cold would be one of the greatest dangers and pointing out that explorers are aware of the risks.

Family spokesman Mathieu Johann described Mr Nargeolet as a "superhero for us in France".

"He is the world specialist on the Titanic, its conception, the shipwreck, he has dived in four corners of the world.”