The missing Titanic crew are believed to have died after the ‘disastrous explosion’

The president of The Explorers Club said the group was heartbroken over the tragic loss of individuals aboard the Titan on Thursday.

“Our friends and fellow Explorers Club members, Hamish Harding and Paul-Henri Narjolet, along with Stockton Rush, Shahjada Dawood and her son Suleiman, were lost while trying to reach the RMS Titanic,” chairman Richard Garriott de Ceaux said in a statement.

He thanked the many teams involved in the search and rescue operation, as well as the many teams around the world who “mobilized personnel and resources to support the search and rescue.”

“Hamish Harding is a dear friend to me personally and to the Explorers Club. He has set many world records and continues to push dragons off the maps in person, on expeditions and for worthy causes. “Paul-Henri was elected to the club in 2001 and was one of the foremost experts on submersible expeditions to the Titanic,” said Carriot de Cayux.

Both Harding and Narjolet were “inspired to explore” to improve science and “for the betterment of mankind,” he said. Garriott de Cayeux added that Rush, CEO and chairman of OceanGate, which operated Titan, was a friend of the club and lectured at its headquarters.

“Although we never knew Shahjata Dawood and his son Suleiman personally, their desire to explore as a family would have brought them to our doorstep at some point in their future, where we would have welcomed them,” he said.