A submersible which carried tourists to view the wreckage of the Titanic has gone missing, with American authorities launching a search and rescue mission.
The tourist vessel has gone missing in the Atlantic Ocean, with the search operation triggered by Boston Coastguard on Monday morning.
A British explorer is among the five people feared missing on board
Read more: Titanic Belfast prepares to relaunch with most emotive visitor experience to date
The major search operation is now underway as five people, including crew members working for OceanGate Expeditions, which runs the trips, are missing. US Coastguard and the adventure company said in statements today the search is ongoing.
British explorer Hamish Harding is part of the expedition. It has yet to be confirmed if he is on the submersible despite saying he was part of those set for the ocean floor.
Paying tourists can take trips in small submarines to see the sunken wreck of the Titanic which lies about 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland in Canada.
OceanGate Expeditions, the private company which organises deep sea expeditions, confirmed in a statement that it owned the missing submersible and people were on board.
"We are exploring and mobilising all options to bring the crew back safely," it said.
"Our entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families. We are working toward the safe return of the crewmembers."
It was reported last year that one such excursion cost a group of guests $250,000 (around £195,000) to take the submersible 2.4 miles down to where the wreckage lays on the seabed.
Each mission has just six people on board, known as "mission specialists". Earlier this year, the company said it planned an expedition to the wreck for Summer 2023, which would further document the Titanic and its "rate of decay".
Its mission plan reads: "Given the massive scale of the wreck and the debris field, multiple missions performed over several years will be required to fully document and model the wreck site."
The shipwreck sits 3,800 meters (12,500 feet) at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
The wreckage was discovered nearly 40 years ago in 1985, and has been the subject of exploration and study ever since.
The huge vessel had around 2,200 crew and passengers onboard when it sank in 1912, on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York.
Famously, the ship was built in Belfast, with Titanic Belfast now telling the story of its history to local people and tourists.
Who is Hamish Harding? The billionaire explorer on missing sub
World-renowned explorer Harding is the chairman of Action Aviation, which buys and sells aircraft. The father-of-two boasts three Guinness World Records for his daring exploits.
In 2019, he was a member of the crew who captured the record for circumnavigating the globe to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
During the mission, Harding and a crew of eight astronauts broke the world speed record for the fastest circumnavigation via the North and South Poles aboard a Qatar Gulfstream ultra-long-range business jet. It took 46 hours, 40 minutes and 22 seconds.
In March 2021, the billionaire and Victor Vescovo set world records for the greatest length covered at full ocean depth and the greatest time spent at full ocean depths for their two-man,12-hour mission to reach the deepest point of the Mariana Trench.
He has notably made multiple visits to the South Pole, including one in 2016, where he accompanied Buzz Aldrin, who became the oldest person to reach the pole at 86.
Harding also took part in Blue Origin’s fifth human space flight last year.
He is also the founder of Action Group and the chairman of Action Aviation, an international aircraft brokerage company based in the United Arab Emirates.
Last year, Harding was one of four recipients of the third annual European Living Legends of Aviation Awards, joining the ranks of Kenn Ricci, Jeff Bezos and Tom Cruise.
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