"One of the biggest things is where is it?"
One of Pakistan’s richest men and his teenage son are among the five people trapped in the missing submarine that set off to see the wreck of the Titanic.
Shahzada Dawood, a UK-based board member of the Prince’s Trust, and his son Sulaiman were on board the tiny underwater craft taking paying tourists to view the famous wreck 12,500ft underwater.
However, the submarine lost signal in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
In a statement, the family said:
“We are very grateful for the concern being shown by our colleagues and friends and would like to request everyone to pray for their safety.”
The Dawood family are among the richest in Pakistan but have strong links to the UK.
Shahzada is believed to live in Surrey with his wife Christine, Sulaiman and daughter Alina.
Shahzada is the Vice-Chairman of Engro Corporation, which makes fertilisers, food and energy, as well as the Dawood Hercules Corporation, which makes chemicals.
He was born in Pakistan but moved to the UK where he studied law at the University of Buckingham.
The others onboard the missing submarine include British billionaire Hamish Harding, French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush.
There is now a race against time for rescue crews to find the vessel before the onboard oxygen runs out at 12 pm BST on June 22, 2023.
According to David Gallo, senior advisor for Strategic Initiatives, RMS Titanic, if the submarine is intact, the five people onboard will be facing dwindling oxygen levels and fighting the cold and facing the risk of hypothermia.
He said hypothermia will be a risk “if the sub is still at the bottom because in the deep ocean, it is just above freezing cold”.
He added: “One of the biggest things is where is it? Is it on the bottom, is it floating, is it mid-water?
“That is something that has not been determined yet… We will have to wait and see and hope for the best.”
The vessel, owned and operated by OceanGate Expeditions, set off at around 4 am on June 18, 2023, as part of a £195,000 per person tour of the 1912 shipwreck of the Titanic.
But an hour and 45 minutes into the two-hour descent, the crew lost communication.
Mr Gallo said that if the vessel is located, the rescue crew would find it difficult to rescue those onboard.
He said: “The water is very deep – two miles plus. It’s like a visit to another planet, it’s not what people think it is.
“It is a sunless, cold environment and high pressure.”
The desperate families of those on board – Shahzada Dawood and his son Sulaiman, Mr Harding, Mr Nargeolet and Mr Rush – are now desperately waiting for news of their loved ones.
OceanGate, whose website says customers do not require any previous diving experience but that there are “a few physical requirements like being able to board small boats in active seas”, said it was receiving help from government agencies and deep-sea companies.
The eight-day trip includes a dive to the Titanic wreck.
David Concannon, an adviser to OceanGate who had planned to be on the expedition, said that officials are working to get a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that can reach a depth of 20,000ft to the site as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, C-130s and P-8s from the US and Canada are also being used to assist in the search in the remote area of the ocean, 900 miles east of Cape Cod and 370 miles southeast of southernmost Newfoundland.
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