Titanic sub explorer once said: "If something goes wrong, you are not coming back"

Hamish Harding, one of the five missing people onboard the OceanGate Titanic submersible has previously acknowledged the risk of no rescue.

The billionaire is an avid explorer, previously flying to space on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin as well as travelling to the Challenger Deep at the bottom of the ocean.

Speaking to Indian publication The Weekin 2021, after returning from his journey to the Challenger Deep, Harding said: “If something goes wrong, you are not coming back.” A now eerily relevant statement given the current events.

Speaking about his journey to the bottom of the ocean, which earned him two new Guinness World records - for the longest distance traversed at the bottom of the ocean (4.6km) and the longest duration spent there (4 hours and 15 minutes).

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“It was potentially scary, but I was so busy doing so many things,” Harding told The Week in 2021, “I did not really have time to be scared.”

He also shared that “the only problem is that there is no other sub that is capable of going down there to rescuer you. It will take three years to build another one.”

Action Aviation, the aircraft brokerage company that Harding founded, released a statement on Tuesday saying: “Both the Harding family and the team at Action Aviation are very grateful for all the kind messages of concern and support from our friends and colleagues.”

The statement went on to describe Harding as “an extraordinarily accomplished individual” and said they “look forward to welcoming him home.”

The search for Harding as well as four others onboard the submersible, is ongoing.

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