By Ivana Kottasová, CNN
A billionaire father and son duo, a wealthy explorer and a diver with decades of experience exploring the Titanic are among the five people on board the submersible that has disappeared en route to view the world’s most famous shipwreck.
Authorities said the small vessel – roughly the size of a minivan – was carrying five people when its mothership lost contact with it on Sunday morning, about 1 hour and 45 minutes into its descent to explore the Titanic wreckage.
While the names of those on board have not been released by the authorities, British businessman Hamish Harding, Pakistani billionaire Shahzada Dawood and his son Sulaiman Dawood, and French diver Paul-Henry Nargeolet have been confirmed to be on board the craft.
The fifth person on board has been identified only as the vessel’s pilot.
Harding, who has an impressive list of extreme expeditions under his belt, is based in the United Arab Emirates and is a trained jet pilot. He is the chairman of Action Aviation, an aircraft brokerage. The company said in statement posted on social media that Harding was on board the submersible.
He made headlines in 2019 for being part of a flight crew that broke the world record for the fastest circumnavigation of the globe via both poles.
In 2020, Harding became one of the first people to dive to Challenger Deep in the Pacific Ocean, widely believed to be the deepest point in the world’s oceans. Last year, he paid an undisclosed sum of money for one of the seats on Blue Origin’s space flight.
He has also been part of two record-breaking trips to the South Pole: in 2016, he accompanied the astronaut Buzz Aldrin when he became the oldest person to reach the South Pole. In 2020, he went there with his son Giles, who, at 12 years old, became the youngest person to get to the spot.
Harding is also a founding member of the board of trustees of The Explorers Club, a New York-based group that has been involved in many of the…
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