Global Courant
Titanic tour company offered up close experience for $250,000
Modern personal tourism on the Titanic is still in its infancy. The submarine that disappeared near the Titanic wreck on Sunday was only on its third voyage since the OceanGate Expeditions company began offering them in 2021.
OceanGate had been promoting the third dive on its website and Facebook posts for months, offering the chance to “follow in Jacques Cousteau’s footsteps and become an underwater explorer” — for the price of $250,000.
“Become one of the few to see the Titanic with your own eyes,” says the travel organization on its website. The ticket is titled “Mission Specialist”.
The participants included a chef, an actor, a videographer and someone who worked in banking, the company said on Facebook. One of the clients said on Instagram last year that it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that lived up to her expectations.
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The first full-scale scan showed the Titanic wreck like never before
Few people will ever get a chance to get an up-close look at the wreckage of the Titanic – a bid that was at the heart of Sunday’s mission when the Titan ship went missing.
The first full-size digital scan of the Titanic recently revealed the world’s most famous shipwreck like never before seen, and experts hope it will provide more insight into how the liner sank in 1912.
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What we know about missing billionaire Hamish Harding
Hamish Harding, a billionaire and the owner and chairman of Action Aviation, is one of five people aboard the missing ship.
Founded in 2004, Action Aviation is described on its website as a global business aviation sales company.
A Sunday post on Harding’s Instagram account said he joined OceanGate’s expedition “as a mission specialist” — usually a one-time crew member who pays a fee to join.
Hamish Harding prior to the start of the expedition on Sunday morning. Dirty Dozen Productions / AFP – Getty Images
“Due to Newfoundland’s worst winter in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only crewed mission to Titanic in 2023,” Harding said in his post. He said a “weather window” had just opened and the team would attempt a dive the next day.
“Until then, we have a lot of preparations and briefings to do,” he said.
According to the family, a Pakistani businessman and son were on board the ship
A prominent Pakistani businessman, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, were among the five people aboard the ship when it went missing, one of his companies said Tuesday.
“We are deeply grateful for the concerns of our colleagues and friends and ask everyone to pray for their safety,” the company said in a statement.
Hamish Harding, the billionaire owner and chairman of Action Aviation, was previously identified as one of the missing crew members.
The other two people who were aboard the ship have yet to be identified.
The search for the missing submarine Titanic continues
The U.S. Coast Guard continues its search on Tuesday for the missing submarine that disappeared Sunday after it left on a mission to explore the Titanic’s wreckage.
The 21-foot submarine and its five-man crew embarked on a dive from the Canadian research vessel Polar Prince on Sunday morning, the Coast Guard said. But the Polar Prince lost contact with the ship after an hour and 45 minutes and it remains missing.
The missing submarine – named Titan, according to The Associated Press – is part of a tour offered by the private company OceanGate Expeditions that explores the wreck of the Titanic, 900 nautical miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
