Dan Walker found himself the target of fierce complaints from viewers as he hosted Channel 5's live special on the missing Titanic submarine on Thursday night.
The Titan vessel, specifically a submersible, has been off the radar since losing contact with its mother ship, the Polar Prince, as it headed down in the North Atlantic to visit the wreckage of Titanic on Sunday. Five passengers are on board Titan - OceanGate Expeditions CEO Stockton Rush, billionaire explorer Hamish Harding, renowned French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet and Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman.
As their families pray for a miracle, a crucial point of the rescue mission passed just after 12pm UK time on Thursday, when the oxygen supply to the Titan was estimated to have ended. There was another important update early on in the evening, when it was reported that debris was found in the search area, with it then confirmed that the debris was thought to be the landing frame and rear cover from the missing sub.
READ MORE: Titanic missing submarine LIVE: Updates as debris found in search area
On Wednesday, it was revealed that Channel 5 would be airing hour long special Titanic Sub: Lost at Sea, with an immediate backlash against the broadcaster, given that it would be airing hours after the oxygen ran out, with hopes of a rescue inevitably starting to fade.
Lost at Sea went out on 5 at 7pm, with former BBC Breakfast host Dan at the helm, months after he hosted another live special, on the search for missing woman Nicola Bulley. Dan plugged the submarine special on his Twitter account, as the clock ticked down to it starting, but his post was met by overwhelming criticism.
Directly responding to his post, one follower wrote: "This should be cancelled in respect of the crew. Too late to carve out salacious gossip. Awful judgement and timing." The same critic added: "Awful taste and bad timing. You should all be ashamed of yourselves." Also against the show, a second told Dan: "Why? why? This is horrible television," with a third tweeting: "This is absolutely grim. Tasteless tv at it's worst."
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