Viewers have hit out at Channel 5 for changing its schedule to air a special show on the missing Titanic submarine, as the clock ticks down on passengers' hopes of survival.
At the start of this week it was confirmed that the Titan vessel had gone missing in the Atlantic, having embarked on an underwater trip to visit the wreckage of Titanic, the liner which famously sank on its way from Southampton to America in 1912. No signal from the sub has been detected since it lost contact with mother ship, the Polar Prince.
Five passengers are on board the missing submarine - Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate; British billionaire explorer Hamish Harding, renowned French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet and Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman. The oxygen supply on the Titan is expected to run on Thursday morning, so it came as a surprise, when it was announced that Channel 5 will be airing a documentary about the missing submarine hours later on Thursday night.
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The broadcaster has changed its schedule for June 22 to now include Titanic Sub: Lost at Sea at 7pm. The show, being billed as 'live' will be fronted by 5 News anchor Dan Walker, months after the former BBC Breakfast presenter hosted a special on the search for Nicole Bulley, even including an interview with her husband, before her dead body was tragically found.
The ITN-produced documentary promises to “go beyond” news coverage and bring viewers up to date with the search mission, but it has not been met with a positive reaction online. Including broadcasting regulator Ofcom in their tweet, one critic blasted: "It has come to my attention that Channel 5 is planning to air a documentary tomorrow in regard to the Titanic Submarine incident. I find this totally and utterly disgraceful, no compassion is being shown for the families awaiting news and fearing the worst."
Equally against the documentary, a second tweeted: "Wait Channel 5 is releasing this Titanic Submarine documentary the day the 5 passengers run out of oxygen?" Another reacted: "
