A submersible bound for the wreckage of the Titanic has gone missing with five people on board, and a text message from one of the passengers has raised alarms.
The expedition operated by OceanGate set off in the early hours of Sunday morning, with the intention of diving to 12,500 feet below surface level where the wreckage of the Titanic lays.
Every 15 minutes, the vessel known as Titan would send a signal to the surface to indicate that it was still operational. Around an hour and 45 minutes into the expedition, the signals stopped being sent, as documented by Sky News.
Onboard the Titan is British billionaire Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, along with two crewmembers Stockton Rush, founder and chief executive officer of OceanGate and French pilot Paul-Henry Nargeolet, as reported by Reuters.
Prior to the journey, Harding had sent a text to his friend, retired Nasa astronaut Colonel Terry Virts, about how the expedition almost didn't take place.
As cited by the Daily Mail, the text read: "Hey, we're headed out tomorrow, it looks good, the weather's been bad so they've been waiting for this."
Harding posted a similar message on his Instagram profile, where he excitedly announced that he would be taking part in the journey to see the Titanic.
Amongst the excitement, came a statement that has since raised alarm bells. "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," Harding wrote. "A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow."
As per the Independent, time is running out for the rescuers to locate the submersible as they only have a limited amount of oxygen on board.
Rear Adm John Mauger of the US Coast Guard told reporters on Monday that the Titan only had 96 hours worth of oxygen, meaning that time is of the essence.
There is widespread speculation as to the fate of the Titan and those on board, but nothing is confirmed as of yet as Robert Blasiak, ocean researcher at the Stockholm Resilience Centre holds out hope.
Speaking to Sky News, he said: "The dream scenario right now is that the submersible has managed to reach the surface and it's just drifting at sea level and will be found by one of the passing aircraft in the coming hours."
Due to the depth of the Titanic, if the submersible is located there, it would require a rescue operation that has never successfully been completed at this depth.
As per the OceanGate website, the Titan is capable of withstanding depths of up to 13,100 feet below surface level.
The company charges $250,000 per person to have a seat on the five-man submersible, with this being the third year that it has operated.
The expedition takes them to the wreckage of the Titanic, which famously sank in 1912 after it struck an iceberg during its journey from the UK to New York.
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