A crew of five people, including a pilot and four others, were on board the Titan submersible when it lost contact with its support ship during a dive to the Titanic wreckage site in the north Atlantic on Sunday.
Here are the passengers who have been confirmed to have been aboard the craft.
Hamish Harding
Hamish Harding, a British businessman and explorer, was among those aboard the submersible, according to Mark Butler, the managing director of Harding’s company, Action Aviation.
Harding, 58, who holds several Guinness World Records, including one for the longest time spent traversing the deepest part of the ocean on a single dive, wrote on his Facebook page on Saturday that he was proud to finally join OceanGate’s mission “onthe sub going down to the Titanic”.
Harding is the chairman of Action Aviation. He had previously flown to space on a mission by Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin rocket company.
Harding also took part in an effort to re-introduce cheetahs to India and holds a world record for the fastest circumnavigation of Earth via both the geographic poles by plane.
Dawood father and son
The British businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman, are among those aboard the missing submersible, according to a statement from the Engro Corporation, of which Dawood is a vice-chairman. Dawood is a scion of one of Pakistan’s wealthiest families.
Dawood and his son had “embarked on a journey to visit the remnants of the Titanic” when contact with the vessel was lost, the statement said, asking for prayers for their safe return and privacy for the family.
Paul-Henri Nargeolet
Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French maritime expert who has been on over 35 dives to the Titanic wreck site, is one of the five people aboard the submersible, said Mathieu Johann, an agent for Nargeolet.
Nargeolet is the director of underwater research for RMS Titanic, an American company that owns the salvage rights to the famous wreck and displays many of the artifacts in Titanic exhibitions. The company conducted eight research and recovery expeditions between 1987 and 2010