Tourists reportedly shell out tends of thousands of dollars to dive through the shipwreck's ruins
A British adventurer is among those aboard a missing submarine, which takes tourists down thousands of metres under the Atlantic to dive through the ruins of the Titanic.
The Titanic - famously the biggest ship of its time - hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage to New York in 1912, with more than half of the 2,200 people on board perishing in the disaster. The shipwreck lies about 600km off the Canadian coastline.
The BBC reported on Monday (19 June) that the US Coastguard had launched an operation to find the missing submersible, which takes experts and tourists who pay out tens of thousands of dollars, on an eight-hour voyage to view the ruins. Military aircraft are reported to be involved in the search.
It is unknown exactly how many people were onboard when the vessel disappeared, but Hamish Harding, chairman of private plane firm Action Aviation, is understood to be aboard the five-person OceanGate Expeditions vessel which was reported overdue on Sunday evening.
On social media this weekend, Mr Harding said he was "proud to finally announce" that he would be aboard the mission to the wreck of the Titanic.
OceanGate Expeditions confirmed it owned the missing vessel in a statement to BBC. "We are exploring and mobilising all options to bring the crew back safely."
The company said its "entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible, and their families".
In 2021, OceanGate Expeditions began what it said would become an annual voyage to chronicle the deterioration of the supersized passenger liner. The company said at the time that in addition to archaeologists and marine biologists, the expeditions also would include roughly 40 paying tourists who would take turns operating sonar equipment and performing other tasks in the five-person submersible.
The initial group of tourists was funding the expedition by spending anywhere from $100,000 to 150,000 US dollars (£78,000 to £117,000) each.