(KRON) – Three of the five people on the missing Titanic submersible have ties to the Bay Area, KRON4 has learned.
The CEO of the Titanic submersible has ties to San Francisco. Another man on board is a board member of a local research institute. KRON4 spoke with the CEO of that research center, who is deeply concerned.
Bill Diamond, CEO of the SETI Institute, woke up to the news on Monday about the missing Titanic submersible. Among the five people inside is one of his board of trustees, Shahzada Dawood, and his 19-year-old son.
"He was in our last board meeting in April, and he was just telling me personally about this upcoming trip, and he was very excited about it,” Diamond said. “He wanted to bring one of the SETI Institute expedition flags that we have. We have scientists who do work all over the world."
The SETI Institute is based in Mountain View. The nonprofit searches for extraterrestrial intelligence.
Diamond says a fellow board member has been in direct contact with the Dawood family. Diamond describes Dawood as someone passionate about science.
"He was very interested in how we could leverage a child's fascination, a child of any age,” Diamond said. “A child's fascination with space and exploration with the unknown and as an opportunity to teach science."
The oceangate submersible took off Sunday and disappeared on its way to the Titanic wreckage site. The sub’s CEO and founder, Stockton Rush, also has ties to the Bay Area.
He is a Cal graduate, and according to his 1985 wedding announcement in the New York Times, he is from a prominent San Francisco family from the 20th century. Davies Symphony Hall is named after his grandmother.
As for the search, the U.S. Coast Guard said underwater noises were detected in the area of the missing submersible on Tuesday. Crews are deploying more ships and vessels. Oxygen in the sub is expected to run out on Thursday morning.
“We're of course, like everybody, holding out great hope through some miracle or some technological capability that the submersible is found and that the crew and passengers are rescued, but it's a dire situation for sure,” Diamond said.
According to the coast guard, crews were scouring an area slightly bigger than the Bay Area. In waters 2.5 miles deep, authorities were still holding out hope of saving the five passengers on-board as of Wednesday night.
from KRON4 https://ift.tt/FvlDxuj
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