Timeline reveals missing Titanic sub's last known movements after it vanished less than two hours into it's dive | The Sun
A SUBMARINE crewed by five legendary explorers, including a British billionaire, yesterday vanished as it headed to view the wreckage of the Titanic.
Now rescuers are in a race against time to locate the vessel – which has just 72 hours of oxygen left on board.
Rescue crews are frantically searching the Atlantic Ocean after the £200,000-a-head voyage disappeared while heading to the wreckage of the Titanic.
It's believed Brit billionaire Hamish Harding, French diving expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet and submarine boss Stockton Rush are among those missing.
Here we take a look at exactly how the incident has unfolded…
1.30am Sunday
On Sunday, aviator and businessman Hamish Harding excitedly posted on social media about the expedition ahead.
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He also mentioned the poor window conditions the crew had been facing.
He wrote: "Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023.
"A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow."
"We started steaming from St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada yesterday and are planning to start dive operations around 4am tomorrow morning.
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"Until then we have a lot of preparations and briefings to do."
6.45am Sunday
Early Sunday morning the final picture of the OceanGate submarine above water was taken.
Snaps posted on Hamish’s business’s Instagram show the vessel in foggy and wet weather being taken out by two dinghies on a barge.
7am Sunday
The submarine set sail from St John's in Newfoundland at 7am on Sunday.
St John’s is around 370 miles (600km) from the Titanic wreckage site.
8.45am Sunday
Just one hour and 45 minutes into the expedition the submarine lost contact with its transport vessel – the Polar Prince.
The company previously revealed it uses Elon Musk's Starlink to communicate with the vessel, however it's not clear what has gone wrong with the network.
It comes as…
- Billionaire Hamish Harding was the first crew member to be confirmed to be on the trip.
- He had posted about poor weather conditions just hour before vanishing
- Paul-Henry Nargeolet was named as the second passenger after the French mariner offered a chilling warning
- Stockton Rush was also named as being on board the missing vessel
12.15am Monday
At roughly midnight on Monday morning the vessel was reported “overdue”.
It’s believed this is when the alarm was raised and the Coast Guard were notified.
A spokesman for OceanGate said: "We are exploring and mobilising all options to bring the crew back safely.
"Our entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families.
"We are deeply thankful for the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to reestablish contact with the submersible.
"We are working toward the safe return of the crewmembers."
Missing
Along with Mr Harding, French submersible pilot Paul-Henry Nargeolet is also feared to be on board.
Mr Nargeolet is the Director of Underwater Research Program at Premier Exhibitions, RMS Titanic, Inc.
The diving expert previously spoke frankly of the extreme dangers of deep-sea exploration in an interview.
He said: “If you are 11m or 11km down, if something bad happens, the result is the same.
“When you’re in very deep water, you’re dead before you realise that something is happening, so it’s just not a problem.”
It's thought the pair have been accompanied by Stockton Rush, the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of OceanGate Inc – the company carrying out the expedition.
Last year he told CBC: "Titan is the only five-person sub capable of going to the Titanic depth, which is half the depth of the ocean.
"There are no switches and things to bump into, we have one button to turn it on.
"Everything else is done with touch screens and computers, and so you really become part of the vehicle and everybody gets to know everyone pretty well."
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