The family of British billionaire businessman Hamish Harding has lashed out at OceanGate and accused it of delaying raising the alarm after its Titanic submersible vehicle went missing.
Kathleen Cosnett, a cousin of Mr Harding, said tour provider OceanGate Expeditions took “far too long” to issue an alarm.
“It’s very frightening,” 69-year-old Ms Cosnett said of the eight-hour delay to the international search effort.
In an interview with the Telegraph, she said: “[It] took so long for them to get going to rescue [them], it’s far too long. I would have thought three hours would be the bare minimum.”
Follow the latest updates on the missing Titanic submarine here.
Aboard the missing submersible are the CEO and founder of OceanGate Expeditions Stockton Rush, billionaire Harding, renowned French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet as well as Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood.
The submersible used for showing tourists the site of the Titanic shipwreck disappeared earlier this week, sparking a race against time to find the missing individuals onboard.
The vehicle went missing off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada on Monday, according to the US Coast Guard.
Mr Harding had joined the crew as a mission specialist – a term used for the passengers on the submersible – according to a Facebook post he made prior to leaving.
Ms Cosnett said it was “worrying” that her cousin and the other passengers “may not have any extra oxygen left” soon.
“[I’m] trying to keep my mind off it, which is not always easy. I’m sleeping and eating alright. But it’s the concern over not only Hamish but the others who are there, and their families.
“My thoughts are with them all.”
An OceanGate spokesperson said the company’s focus is on locating the missing and returning them to their families. “Our entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families,” OceanGate said.
Meanwhile, Mr Harding’s stepson Brian Szasz has faced backlash after he posted on his social media that he had attended a Blink-182 concert amid the frantic ongoing search operation for the missing vessel.
