Rescue teams are searching for a British billionaire and four others who went missing on a deep-sea vessel near the wreck site of the Titanic ocean liner.
The US Coast Guard is leading the search for the small craft, named Titan, which was reported overdue about 435 miles south of St John's in Newfoundland, Canada, on Sunday evening. British billionaire Hamish Harding, chairman of private plane firm Action Aviation, has been named as one of the people on board.
The Titan's dive on Sunday is one of many that have been made to the wreck, which is about 2.4 miles below the surface, by OceanGate Expeditions since 2021.
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In a social media post this weekend, Mr Harding said he was "proud to finally announce" he would be aboard the mission to the wreck of the Titanic. But he added that 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".
He continued: "A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow. We started steaming from St John's, Newfoundland, Canada yesterday and are planning to start dive operations around 4am tomorrow morning.
"Until then we have a lot of preparations and briefings to do."
Mr Harding holds three Guinness World Records, for longest duration and distance traversed at full ocean depth by a crewed vessel, and fastest circumnavigation via both poles by aeroplane. Two of these feats were achieved by Mr Harding and fellow explorer Victor Vescovo when they dived to the lowest depth of the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the ocean, in a two-person submergence vehicle in March 2021.
In July 2019, Mr Harding was part of a team that achieved the fastest circumnavigation of Earth via both geographic poles by plane with a time of 46 hours, 40 minutes and 22 seconds. In June last year, he travelled to space as a tourist with fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin company.
Who else is on board the missing sub?
Shahzada Dawood and his son Sulaiman Dawood have been named as two of the other people on the submersible by their family.
A Dawood family statement obtained by CNN said: "As of now, contact has been lost with their submersible craft and there is limited information available.
"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 while granting the family privacy at this time.
"The family is well looked after and are praying to Allah for the safe return of their family members."
Mr Dawood is the vice chairman of Pakistani conglomerate Engro Corporation, which was founded as a fertiliser business, and, according to the company's website, a board member of the King's charity, Prince's Trust International. It is understood the Dawood family, who live in Surbiton, south-west London, are in Canada for a month.
Rescuers are in a race against time, with only until Thursday before oxygen runs out on the vessel.
The US Coast Guard is leading search efforts and Rear Admiral John W Mauger estimated there was 70 to 96 hours left at a press conference held just before 5pm Boston time (10pm UK time) on Monday.
A huge search and rescue operation, involving military aircraft 900 miles east of Cape Cod, has continued into today (Tuesday). The US Coast Guard said the Canadian research vessel Polar Prince and 106 Rescue wing will continue to conduct surface searches alongside two US C-130 flights.
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