OceanGate Titan disappearance: Hamish Harding's family, Action Aviation hold out hope in new statement
Harding is among five people missing during tourist dive to Titanic wreck site
Action Aviation released a statement Tuesday expressing hope that Hamish Harding, its chairman and one of the five aboard the missing OceanGate Titan sub, will come home safely.
The aircraft sales company said it "confirms that our esteemed Chairman, Hamish Harding, is currently onboard the Titan Submersible at the Titanic site."
"Both the Harding Family and the team at Action Aviation are very grateful for all the kind messages of concern and support from our friends and colleagues. We are thankful for the continued efforts of the authorities and companies that have stepped in to aid in the rescue efforts," it said. "We put great faith and trust in their expertise."
Action Aviation described Harding as a "licensed Air Transport Pilot, a Living Legend of Aviation, inducted in 2022, a three Guinness World Records holder, an Explorer and an Entrepreneur."
WHO IS HAMISH HARDING, THE BRITISH BUSINESSMAN AND EXPLORER ABOARD MISSING TITANIC SIGHTSEEING SUB?
Hamish Harding attends Living Legends of Aviation Awards at The Beverly Hilton on Jan. 20, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California. (Victoria Sirakova/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Harding, it added "is an extraordinarily accomplished individual who has successfully undertaken challenging expeditions, including but not limited to One More Orbit project (the record-breaking circumnavigation of the world), a flight to Space with Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket as a Commercial Astronaut (NS-21 Mission) and the reintroduction of Cheetahs from Namibia to India."
"He has travelled on a submersible to the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench and has been to the South Pole a number of times," Action Aviation also said.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MISSING TITANIC EXPLORATION SUBMARINE
The remains of the RMS Titanic are rapidly corroding at the bottom of the North Atlantic. (Image: © NOAA/Institute for Exploration/University of Rhode Island / Fox News)
The company concluded by saying that its team is "extremely proud of Hamish and we look forward to welcoming him home."
The OceanGate Titan sub that Harding was traveling in vanished on Sunday during a dive to the wreckage of the Titanic.
This undated photo provided by OceanGate Expeditions in June 2021 shows the company's Titan submersible. (OceanGate Expeditions via AP, File)
"I am 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," Harding had written on his Facebook page Saturday, a day before the sub vanished.
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"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 added. "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."