Tag: Sulaiman Dawood

  • ‘Banging sounds’ heard underwater in search for missing Titanic submersible 

    ‘Banging sounds’ heard underwater in search for missing Titanic submersible 

    In a frantic search for the missing OceanGate Titan submarine, a Canadian maritime surveillance aircraft is reported by Al-Jazeera to have detected ‘banging sounds in the area every 30 minutes.’ 

    On Sunday, the submersible went missing in the North Atlantic Ocean 100 minutes into its voyage to see the wreck of the Titanic. Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Sulaiman Dawood are onboard the vessel.

    The United States Coast Guard said that one of the Canadian aircrafts involved in the search for the deep-sea vessel has detected “underwater noises in the search area”. 

    Remotely operated vehicles  (ROVs) were then relocated “in an attempt to explore the origin of the noises”, the coastguard said on Wednesday, Al-Jazeera reports.

    So far, the ROVs have “yielded negative results”, said the coastguard in a tweet. Still, they are continuing their search.

    Rolling Stone magazine, citing internal US government communications, was the first to report the news of what was described as “banging sounds in the area every 30 minutes”. 

    The magazine cited an internal email sent to U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials. “Four hours later additional sonar was deployed and banging was still heard,” the magazine reported.

    The oxygen supply on OceanGate’s Titan will run out by Thursday morning, according to officials. 

    A foreseeable tragedy?

    The former director of marine operations for OceanGate, David Lochridge, had previously raised safety concerns about Titan before being fired from his position.

    Lochridge’s concerns about the safety of the missing submersible are still contained in a response he filed to the lawsuit that OceanGate brought against him for breaching a non-disclosure agreement.

    Lochridge wrote an engineering report in 2018 that said the craft under development needed more testing and that passengers might be endangered when it reached “extreme depths”. 

    According to his claim, he learned the vessel was built to withstand a certified pressure of 1,300 meters, although OceanGate planned to take passengers to 4,000 meters, CBS news reports.

  • Pakistani father and son aboard missing Titanic submersible

    Pakistani father and son aboard missing Titanic submersible

    Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Sulaiman Dawood are currently onboard a missing OceanGate tourist submersible vessel that was carrying five people to see the wreck of the Titanic at the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean.

    The Dawood family has released the following statement:

    “As of now, contact has been lost with their submersible craft and there is limited information available. A rescue effort that is being jointly led by multiple government agencies and deep-sea companies is underway to reestablish contact with the submersible and bring them back safely,” read the statement.

    “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,” it added.

    Shahzada Dawood is a trustee of the SETI Institute in California and vice chairman of Dawood Hercules Corporation, part of the Dawood Group.

    The OceanGate Titan craft submerged Sunday morning, and its support vessel lost contact with it about an hour and 45 minutes later, The Independent has said.

    OceanGate Expeditions is a company that offers eight-day missions to see the Titanic debris at a cost of $250,000 per person. The organisation confirmed its submarine was lost at sea with crew members on board, and that it is exploring all options to rescue the five people onboard. The company’s chief executive is also believed to be on the craft.

    Officials confirmed government agencies, the US and Canadian navies and commercial deep-sea firms are helping in the rescue operation, as reported by the BBC.

    The craft they were on board dives with a four day emergency supply of oxygen. Addressing a news conference, Rear Adm John Mauger of the US Coast Guard said there is somewhere between 70 and the full 96 hours of oxygen available at this point

    British billionaire explorer Hamish Harding and renowned French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet are also among the passengers onboard.