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Dubai-based British adventurer on board Titanic expedition vessel an 'explorer at heart'

Hamish Harding knows the risks associated with every single expedition and would be calm amid the crisis, a friend tells the media

Dubai-based British billionaire Hamish Harding, who is on board a missing submersible vessel carrying five people to document the wreckage of the Titanic, is an "explorer at heart" who knows the risks associated with every single expedition, according to a friend and colleague.

Norwegian explorer Jannicke Mikkelsen said Harding, 58, would be "calm" amid the crisis, according to the Daily Mail.

Mikkelsen told NewsNation that "Titanic was one of the big high points that he wanted to achieve in his life", and hoped that Harding and his crew members "are okay and they resurface".

“This was yet another goal on his checklist of what he wanted to explore down here on Earth, and also in space,” Mikkelsen said, according to NewsNation.

Harding is the chairman of Action Aviation, a global sales company in business aviation, and has been living in Dubai for 14 years. His wife is called Linda, and he has two sons named Rory and Giles, as well as a stepdaughter named Lauren and a stepson, Brian Szasz, according to The Guardian.

On June 18, he posted on Facebook that he was proud "to finally announce that I joined OceanGate Expeditions for their RMS TITANIC Mission as a mission specialist on the sub going down to the Titanic".

"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. A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow. We started steaming from St. Johns, 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...," the post added.

Harding also wrote that the technologically advanced vessel had “a couple of legendary explorers, some of which have done over 30 dives to the RMS Titanic since the 1980s including PH Nargeolet”.

As a student, Harding left Cambridge with a degree in natural sciences and chemical engineering. Harding is an aviator, holding an airline transport pilot’s licence and business jet type ratings, including the Gulfstream G650, an article in The Guardian said. He is also a skydiver, was inducted into the Living Legends of Aviation in 2022, and is a trustee of the Explorers Club, it added.

He holds three Guinness World Records, including longest duration at full ocean depth by a crewed vessel, according to news agency Associated Press. In March 2021, he and ocean explorer Victor Vescovo dived to the lowest depth of the Mariana Trench, the AP reported, and added that he went into space on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket in June 2022. Besides going to space and exploring the depths of the ocean, Hamish Harding has also travelled to the South Pole.

A rescue operation is underway deep in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean in search of the vessel — operated by OceanGate Expeditions; it was reported overdue on Sunday night about 435 miles (700 kilometres) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland, according to AP.

According to the Coast Guard, the craft submerged on Sunday morning, and its support vessel, the Canadian research icebreaker Polar Prince, lost contact with it about an hour and 45 minutes later. The submersible is reported to have a 96-hour oxygen supply starting at roughly 6am on Sunday.

“My biggest fear is (if) they are trapped without the ability of receiving help. There is no one who can reach him at the bottom and — this is terrifying,” Mikkelsen told NewsNation.

She said Hamish taught her that “every single expedition is dangerous", adding that he is "the reason why I started my expedition career". Mikkelsen was thanked US and Canadian authorities for the search efforts.

“Hamish is a close friend, his family are close friends, and Hamish is the reason why … I started my expedition career. I owe a lot to Hamish,” she said. “I hope he’s OK. I hope his crew members are OK and they resurface.”

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