Considered one of Pakistan’s richest males and his son are amongst trapped Titanic sub passengers, household reveals

Considered one of Pakistan’s richest males and his teenage son are among the many 5 individuals lacking within the submarine that set off to see the wreck of the Titanic earlier than shedding all communication 1000’s of toes underwater, it was revealed at this time. 

Shahzada Dawood, 48, a UK-based board member of the Prince’s Belief charity, and his son Sulaiman Dawood, 19, had been on board the tiny underwater craft taking paying vacationers to view the well-known wreck 12,500ft underwater once they misplaced sign at nighttime depths of the Atlantic Ocean, 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

Their determined household, together with Shahzada’s spouse Christina and daughter Alina, at the moment are enduring an agonising anticipate any information of the pair – hoping in useless that they may in some way be discovered 1000’s of toes underwater earlier than the oxygen on board runs out in round 50 hours. 

‘We’re very grateful for the priority being proven by our colleagues and associates and wish to request everybody to hope for his or her security,’ the Dawood household mentioned in an announcement.

The Dawood household are among the many richest in Pakistan, however have robust hyperlinks to the UK and Shahzada is believed to reside in a Surrey mansion with Christine, who works as a life coach, son Sulaiman and daughter Alina.

Shahzada is the Vice Chairman of Engro Company, which makes fertilisers, meals and power, in addition to the Dawood Hercules Company, which makes chemical substances. He was born in Pakistan however moved to the UK the place he studied legislation on the College of Buckingham. 

The missing tourist submersible with five people aboard including British billionaire Hamish Harding is known to have final ‘pinged’ whereas it was immediately above its vacation spot – the Titanic. Paul-Henri Nargeolet, the French world-renowned explorer, can also be on board. OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush is believed to be the fifth crew member.

There’s now a determined race in opposition to time for rescue crews from the US and Canada to seek out the vessel, which is known to have final ‘pinged’ while it was immediately above the Titanic wreck, earlier than the air on board runs out. It’s believed the submarine has sufficient oxygen to final underwater till 12pm on Thursday UK time (7am EST).

The sub, owned and operated by OceanGate Expeditions, had launched at round 4am on Sunday and was taking the crew of 5 12,500ft underwater as a part of its £195,000-a-head tour of the 1912 shipwreck of the Titanic. 

However the crew misplaced communication with the sub’s mothership MV Polar Prince an hour and 45 minutes into the 2 hour descent and there may be now a determined search to seek out the vessel and people on board earlier than the air runs out. 

And because the terrifying race in opposition to time started yesterday afternoon, rescuers admitted the sub may have change into caught within the wreckage of the Titanic which is 370 miles from Newfoundland in Canada however lies in US waters.

Submarine specialists additionally concern the vessel is simply too deep for a manned rescue sub, such because the US Navy sub which is restricted to 2,000ft, and that the only way of reaching it may be using a remote operated vehicle. These can attain a most depth of 20,000ft.

The determined households of these on board – Shahzada Dawood and his son Sulaiman, Mr Harding, Mr Nargeolet and Mr Rush – at the moment are desperately ready for information of their family members.

The Dawoods are members of one of the vital outstanding enterprise households in Pakistan. Shahzada’s father Hussain, 79, is the Chairman of the Dawood Hercules Company, which makes chemical substances, and the Engro Company, which makes fertilisers, meals and power. 

Shahzada is vice chairman of each firms and can also be a member of the World Advisory Board for King Charles’ Charity, Prince’s Belief. He’s additionally within the Founder’s Circle of the British Asian Belief. 

The daddy-of-two was born in Pakistan however moved to the UK to review legislation on the College of Buckingham. He then went on to review at Grasp’s in textile advertising and marketing in 2000 at Philadelphia College.

Shahzada had determined to take his son Sulaiman on the ‘Titan’ – the identify of the Titanic submersible – for the five-day journey with three others when catastrophe struck they usually misplaced contact with the floor after showing to shut in on their vacation spot.

It is understood that Titan communicates by sending a ping to the Polar Prince each quarter-hour – the final of which was obtained whereas the submersible floated above the Titanic wreckage at about 10am EST yesterday (3pm UK time).

It was at that second that chaos ensued. A misery name was despatched to the US Coast Guard at 9pm, whose Boston department is main an operation to carry out what would be the deepest undersea rescue mission ever. 

With lower than 52 hours of air left between 5 crew members till Thursday, Rear Admiral John W. Mauger advised a press convention on Monday that the US Coast Guard is working ‘as arduous as doable’ to seek out it whereas ‘lives are in danger’.

However former Coast Guardsman John Mixson advised Fox Information it was an ‘extraordinarily critical and dire scenario’, including: ‘It is arduous to say everytime you simply lose whole communications in a scenario like that what truly occurred till you discover the vessel.

‘This is not a standard prevalence in any respect. Clearly, one thing very fast and really tragic occurred.’

However author Mike Reiss, who took the Titanic submersible journey final 12 months, mentioned he feels ‘optimistic’ for the lacking OceanGate craft. Mr Reiss advised BBC Breakfast communication was additionally misplaced throughout his dive all the way down to the Titanic. 

Mr Reiss mentioned: ‘I am optimistic simply because I do know the logistics of it. And I do know actually once more, how huge the ocean is, and the way very tiny the craft is.

He added: ‘So the concept is, if it is down on the backside, I do not know the way anybody’s going to have the ability to entry it, a lot much less carry it again up.

‘There’s a hope that it is at, or close to, the floor. I did three separate dives. I did one dive to the Titanic and two extra off the coast of New York.

‘Each time they misplaced communication and once more, this isn’t a shoddy ship or something.’

In distinction, an skilled on the historical past of the Titanic mentioned he’s ‘very nervous concerning the souls’ on board the lacking submersible.

Tim Maltin, an creator, historian and TV presenter mentioned the vacationers had been in a troublesome scenario.

Mr Maltin mentioned on BBC Breakfast: ‘If it is close to the Titanic it might be simpler to seek out, however the issue is in fact you’ll be able to’t do a ship-to-ship switch even, the stress is completely intense.

‘It is practically two miles miles down, it is pitch black.

‘So I additionally am very, very nervous concerning the souls who’re on board.’

He added: ‘I believe they’re fairly courageous individuals who have been down there, however equally they know the dangers however nobody expects it to go improper in your dive.’

OceanGate, whose web site says clients don’t require any earlier diving expertise however that there are ‘a number of bodily necessities like having the ability to board small boats in energetic seas’, mentioned it was receiving assist from authorities businesses and deep-sea firms.

The eight-day journey features a two hour dive to the Titanic wreck and the identical on the way in which up. It may be round eight to 10 hours in whole.

David Concannon, an adviser to OceanGate who had truly deliberate to be on the expedition, mentioned that officers are working to get a remotely operated automobile (ROV) that may attain a depth of 20,000ft to the location as quickly as doable.  

In the meantime, C-130s and P-8s from the US and Canada are additionally getting used to help within the search within the distant space of the ocean, 900 miles east of Cape Cod and 370 miles southeast of southernmost Newfoundland. 

Business ships serving to the rescue mission even have entry to sonar buoys that are able to listening to a depth of 13,000ft, the Coast Guard mentioned.

Admiral Mauger conceded that the craft might have change into caught within the Titanic’s wreckage and mentioned the rescue mission was ‘very difficult’.

 ‘We’re working as arduous as doable, bringing all property to bear to attempt to discover the submersible,’ he added.

‘We had been notified yesterday [Sunday] afternoon and we started instantly to mobilise property to look each the floor of the water, search from the air, and to detect any vessels beneath the water as properly. We have had a complete search to seek out these individuals.’

Admiral Mauger mentioned the coastguard didn’t have the capabilities to achieve it, if that was the case, telling Fox Information: ‘We do not have gear onsite that may do a survey of the underside…there may be numerous particles [at this wreckage] so finding will probably be troublesome.

‘We do not have the capabilities right now. Proper now, we’re centered on attempting to find it.’

Former Rear Admiral Chris Parry, throughout a separate look on Sky News, echoed Mauger’s issues. 

‘It’s extremely worrying. It may have change into entangled within the wreckage of Titanic, we do not know but,’ mentioned Parry.

‘The wreck website is a good distance from anyplace. The one hope one has is that the mothership may have a standby craft that may examine instantly what’s going on.’ 

OceanGate, which was based in 2009, had chartered the MV Polar Prince, to take them to the dive website. 

Polar Prince is believed to have departed St Johns in Newfoundland on Saturday, with the submersible – fabricated from of five-inch-thick carbon fiber, capped on every finish by a dome of titanium –  launching at round 4am Sunday. 

The Titan subs don’t have any manner of directing themselves beneath water. As a substitute, they depend on textual content messages from the mothership, instructing them the place to go. 

The lacking vacationer sub is classed as a submersible, not a submarine, as a result of it doesn’t perform as an autonomous craft, and depends as an alternative on a help platform. 

Final 12 months, a CBS journalist was on the mothership when the sub went off track.  It was lacking for two-and-a-half hours earlier than it returned however none of these onboard had been harmed.  

Tickets for the journey value £195,000 for an eight-day tour throughout which teams pair off into smaller pods to dive within the submersibles for as much as ten hours. 

OceanGate advertises it as ‘a once-in-a-lifetime alternative’ to ‘safely dive the Titanic wreckage website’ in a ‘12,500-foot journey to the underside of the ocean’.

Rich vacationers are advised that ‘if cash is not an object and you do not thoughts shut quarters’, then they’ll ‘step outdoors of on a regular basis life and uncover one thing actually extraordinary’.

Billionaire and CEO of Motion Aviation in Dubai Mr Harding, who has been into area, visited each poles, circumnavigated the globe and holds three Guinness World Information – together with for the longest time spent on the backside of the ocean – vowed to not be somebody who ‘particularly as they get older, offers up on their goals’.

OceanGate confirmed its sub was lacking, writing: ‘We’re exploring and mobilizing all choices to carry the crew again safely.

‘Our complete focus is on the crewmembers within the submersible and their households. We’re working towards the protected return of the crewmembers.’ 

The sub makes use of Elon Musk’s Starlink to speak with its mothership as a result of it’s so far out to sea. 

Earlier than the journey, London-born Harding excitedly posted to social media about being there. Harding mentioned it a ‘window’ had opened up that may permit the group to dive. 

‘A climate window has simply opened up and we’re going to try a dive tomorrow. We began steaming from St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada yesterday and are planning to start out dive operations round 4am tomorrow morning,’ he wrote. 

His firm, Motion Aviation, posted on Sunday at 4am confirming that he was ‘diving’.

In response to OceanGate’s web site, one expedition is ongoing and two extra have been deliberate for June subsequent 12 months. 

The Titanic sank within the early hours of April 15, 1912, on its maiden voyage from England to New York after hitting an iceberg, killing greater than 1,500 individuals. The wreckage was present in 1985, damaged into two important sections. 

By the early 2000s, scientists had been warning that the numbers of vacationers visiting the wreck had been probably damaging it – warning that holes had opened up within the decks, partitions had crumpled, and that rust was spreading everywhere in the ship. Additionally they famous it was a graveyard, and deserved respect.