A British explorer is reportedly one of the passengers in a submersible that vanished while transporting tourists to the Titanic.
Coastguards lost communication with the vessel, which is being run by Oceangate Expeditions, and are now conducting a search and rescue operation in the north Atlantic Ocean.
It is one of many vessels that sporadically convey visitors, specialists, and scientists to the renowned shipwreck.
Oceangate confirmed to the BBC that a crew is on board and it would be ‘exploring and mobilising all options’ to bring them back.
In a statement, the company said: ‘Our entire focus is on the crew members in the submersible and their families.’
It continued: ‘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.’
The US Coastguard confirmed a search operation was underway, with the Boston team leading.
None of the identities of those on board have been confirmed, but British explorer Hamish Harding, the chairman of aircraft sales firm Action Aviation, wrote in a Facebook post on Saturday that he was joining the latest Oceangate expedition to see the Titanic.
The billionaire holds the Guinness World Record for the longest time spent at the deepest point of the ocean, which was earned when he spent four hours and 15 minutes at the bottom of the Marianas Trench with fellow record-holder Victor Vescovo in March 2021.
Mr Harding said in the post: ‘The team on the sub has a couple of legendary explorers, some of which have done over 30 dives to the RMS Titanic since the 1980s including PH Nargeolet.’
He appears to be referring to French submersible pilot Paul-Henry Nargeolet, one of the world’s foremost experts on the Titanic wreck site, who is also believed to be on the vessel.
Sky News reported that Mr Harding’s stepson Brian Szasz had posted on Facebook saying: ‘Thoughts and prayers for my stepfather Hamish Harding as his Submarine has gone missing exploring Titanic.’
It can reportedly take eight hours for a submersible to take people down to the wreck – which lies 13,000ft below the surface of the ocean – and back up again, as part of a multi-day trip.
The missing submersible is understood to have a life support system designed to last 96 hours.
Last year, it was reported that one such excursion run by OceanGate cost a group of guests $250,000.
The mission was 10 days long, with eight of those days at sea, according to a tourist brochure.
It is understood that only five people are able to travel in the submersible. The number on board when it went missing is unknown.
Earlier this year, the company said it planned an expedition to the wreck for summer 2023, which would further document the Titanic and its ‘rate of decay’.
The Titanic lies at the bottom of the North Atlantic, about 600km (370 miles) off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
It was the largest passenger liner in the world at the time of its launch on April 10 1912, but it sank after colliding with an iceberg just four days later.
There are believed to have been around 2,224 people on board at the time, of whom more than 1,500 died.
Since the wreck was rediscovered in 1985, a number of people have journeyed to the sea floor to take a look – including James Cameron, who directed a massively successful film about the disaster in 1997.