What we know about the missing OceanGate sub and its expedition

The eyes of the world are on an extraordinarily difficult rescue operation to find a missing submersible vessel carrying people to view the wreckage of the Titanic.

The five-person submersible had on board crew and paying tourists and was one of 18 “missions” planned by deep sea exploration company OceanGate Expeditions for 2023 and onwards.

According to its website, OceanGate successfully completed similar expeditions to the Titanic wreck – which lies 3800 metres below the surface around 685 kilometres south-southeast of the coast of Newfoundland – in 2021 and 2022.

A rendered animation of Titan scanning the RMS Titanic. (OceanGate)

The company said the aim of its missions was to document the Titanic and its rate of decay, by collecting images, videos, laser and sonar data.

The expeditions were being funded by tourists, with the initial group reported to have paid between $US100,000 to $US150,000 ($146,000 to $219,000) apiece.

Action Aviation confirmed that its company chairman, UK billionaire businessman Hamish Harding, was one of the tourists on board.

The vessel, called the Titan, is capable of comfortably diving as deep as the Titanic wreckage, according to a court documents filed by the company in April with a US District Court in Virginia that presides over Titanic matters.

OceanGate Expeditions confirmed the search for its five-person submersible, which had been on the way to the wreck of the Titanic on Monday, June 19, 2023. (OceanGate Expeditions)

OceanGate told the court that Titan’s viewport is “the largest of any deep diving submersible” and that its technology provides an “unrivalled view” of the deep ocean.

CBS News reporter David Pogue was on board the same vessel last year when it went to visit the Titanic wreckage and said at the time he had to sign a waiver which stated the submersible was “experimental” and “had not been approved by any regulatory body.”

Pogue said the submersible had about as much room inside as a minivan and he “couldn’t help noticing how many pieces of this sub seemed improvised” including a video game controller that was used to pilot the sub.

In a tweet posted after news of the submersible’s disappearance broke, Progue recalled the vessel had gotten lost “for a few hours” during the expedition he was on.