The family of British billionaire Hamish Harding, one of the five missing aboard the Titan submersible, slammed OceanGate Expeditions for allegedly delaying for eight hours a report that the vessel was missing.
Kathleen Cosnett, a cousin of the world explorer, said the private company took its time to contact officials after Titan vanished less than two hours into its descent toward the Titanic shipwreck.
“It’s very frightening,” Cosnett, 69, told the Telegraph Thursday. ““[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.”
Cosnett’s outrage comes following reports that OceanGate did not reach out for emergency help until Sunday evening, eight hours after the submersible disappeared 900 miles east of Cape Cod.
US Coast Guard officials confirmed that they received word about the incident Sunday night after OceanGate conducted its own short search, but authorities did not specify how much time had elapsed since the disappearance.
OceanGate has repeatedly declined to comment on the allegations.
Cosnett said her family is still holding out hope for his safe rescue despite OceanGate’s estimate that there was only four days of oxygen in the vessel, with the supply expected to have run out Thursday morning.
“[I’m] trying to keep my mind off it, which is not always easy. I’m sleeping and eating all right, but it’s the concern over not only Hamish but the others who are there, and their families,” she said. “My thoughts are with them all.”
Along with criticizing OceanGate, Cosnett bashed Harding’s alma mater, Pembroke College, for hosting a submarine-theme ball Wednesday night as authorities desperately ramped up efforts to locate the missing sub.
“They ought to think more than twice, and show consideration. Perhaps we are lucky they didn’t play ‘Yellow Submarine,'” Cosnett told the Telegram.
While the fate of Harding and the other four passengers on board, including OceanGate founder and CEO Stockton Rush, remains unclear, the Coast Guard said Thursday that debris was discovered at the site of the Titanic wreckage.
The update was shared in a tweet from the First Coast Guard District, which wrote, “A debris field was discovered within the search area by an ROV near the Titanic.”
“Experts within the unified command are evaluating the information,” the Coast Guard added.
Coast Guard officials will discuss the findings from the Horizon Arctic’s ROV on the sea floor near the Titanic at a 3 p.m. press briefing, officials said in a release.
