The stepson of billionaire Hamish Harding, who is on board the missing Titanic tourist submarine, has posted about attending Blink-182 concert as rescue teams continue to try and locate the vessel carrying his father.
On Monday (19 June), an Ocean Gate submersible called the “Titan” carrying five tourists to the site of the 1912 Titanic ship’s wreckage off the Canadian coast, went missing in the North Atlantic Ocean. According to reports, the vessel lost contact with its support ship after about one hour and 45 minutes into its descent.
The five people travelling in the submersible include British billionaire Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, and his son Suleman, founder and CEO OceanGate, Stockton Rush, and veteran French diver Paul-Henry Nargeolet.
On the same day, the submarine went missing, Harding’s stepson Brian Szasz was spotted at Blink-182’s concert in San Diego.
Szasz, an audio engineer, shared photos and posts about the gig as he defended his attendance to his followers.
“It might be distasteful being here but my family would want me to be at the Blink-182 show as it’s my favourite band and music helps me in difficult times,” Szasz apparently wrote in the caption of his since-deleted post.
On Tuesday (20 June), the billionaire’s stepson tagged Blink-182’s Tom DeLonge in a tweet, writing: “@tomdelonge my stepdad is missing in the sub at the titanic site. I’m here at the San Diego show for support thanks.”
On the next day, Szasz also shared a photograph of him posing with DeLonge.
On Facebook, Szasz posted a message saying that he hopes the “rescue mission” trying to find his step-father “will be successful.”
In the most recent update around the Titan’s search, a Canadian aircraft searching for the missing submarine detected intermittent “banging” noises from the vicinity of the last known location of the divers.
The crew searching for the missing sub reportedly heard banging sounds every 30 minutes on Tuesday and again four hours later, after additional sonar devices were deployed.
The Titan is equipped with a four-day emergency oxygen supply. It is estimated that the five missing passengers have just 24 hours of oxygen supply left inside the vessel.
In a statement, Ocean Gate said its “entire focus [was] on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families”.
“We are deeply thankful for the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to re-establish contact with the submersible,” the company said.
Follow The Independent’s live blog about the missing submersible here.
