Titan submarine passengers confirmed dead after catastrophic implosion.
The world was shocked by the news this week that a tourist submarine seeking to visit the ruins of the Titanic went missing.
A search mission has since been launched to recover the people missing.
But what is the latest with the ongoing search for the missing submersible? We’ll use this space to keep you posted and bring you all of the latest breaking news as it emerges.
In the meantime, we also have all of the background information you need to be up to date with what has happened so far, from those on board to the bizarre banging noises that were confirmed to have been heard in the ocean during the rescue attempts.
How much each passenger paid?
The Titanic wreckage aboard a submarine was the exploration mission that went missing on Monday as it was making its way to the Atlantic Ocean. According to the company that operates the expedition, the passengers who boarded the vessel paid $250,000 to join the crew.
Who are the passengers on board?
1 & 2. Shahzada and Son, Suleman Dawood
The father and son belong to one of Pakistan’s most prominent families.
Shahzada Dawood, 48, is vice-chairman of Pakistani conglomerate Engro Corporation, and a long-time adviser to the King’s charity, Prince’s Trust International, with a focus on its work in Pakistan.
It was also confirmed on Thursday afternoon that Suleman is a student at Strathclyde University in Glasgow.
A spokesperson for the university said: “We are deeply concerned about Suleman, his father and the others involved in this incident. Our thoughts are with their families and loved ones and we continue to hope for a positive outcome.”
With an LLB in Law from the University of Buckingham and an MSc in Textile Marketing from Philadelphia University, Shahzada has held several trustee and director roles across several companies.
3. Stockton Rush
The chief executive and founder of OceanGate Expeditions, Mr Rush originally trained as a pilot. He became the youngest jet transport-rated pilot in the world aged 19 in 1981, according to his profile on the OceanGate website.
4. Paul-Henri Nargeolet
A former commander who served in the French navy for 25 years, Mr Nargeolet, 77, was in the first human expedition to visit the ship in 1987, according to the Telegraph.
After his career in the French navy, where he was captain of the deep submergence group, he held several roles in deep diving and piloting submersibles. These included acting as director of DESM, noted on his LinkedIn profile as a French deep-diving equipment company.
Born in Chamonix, France, he spent his childhood in Africa with his parents, the Daily Mail reported.
Mr Nargeolet was married to American newsreader Michelle Marsh until her death in 2017 aged 63, the New York Times reported.
He is an “extremely capable submersible operator pilot”, his friend Dik Barton, the first British diver to see the Titanic wreck, told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
Mr Barton said Mr Nargeolet had been down to the Titanic wreck 37 times, referring to him as PH.
He added: “I have enormous respect for him and his ability, and, quite frankly, if there’s anybody I’d ever want to be in a position, God forbid, in this circumstance then it would be PH.
5. Hamish Harding
The billionaire pilot and chair of Action Aviation, a sales and operations company which manages private jet sales, said on his Instagram account that he had joined the OceanGate expedition as a “mission specialist”.
Mr Harding, 58, is based in the UAE where the Action Aviation HQ is located, and presents himself in personal social media biographies as a “world explorer”.
He was also described as the “quintessential British explorer” by his friend Colonel Terry Virts, a former commander of the International Space Station, on the Today programme.
Col Virts said: “Some people watch Netflix and some people play golf, and Hamish goes to the bottom of the ocean or into space or, you know, he sets world records flying around the planet.
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