A tragedy has occurred off the coast of Egypt.
At least six people died March 27 after a Sinbad Submarines submersible crashed in the Red Sea, less than a mile off the coast of Hurghada, Egyptian governorate office confirmed to NBC News.
Per Reuters, authorities confirmed that all reported casualties in the crash were foreign nationals, with Russia's embassy in Cairo telling NBC News that four of the people killed were Russians.
Forty-five tourists total—including minors—were aboard the submarine, per the statement.
“Most of those on board were rescued and taken to their hotels and hospitals in Hurghada,” the statement added, noting that, “their health condition is not a concern.” (However, municipal officials told the Associated Press that at least nine people had been injured.)
Information regarding exactly how the crash occurred has not yet been determined, but it occurred around 10 a.m. local time. Sinbad Submarines is a popular tourism agency based in Egypt, and offers recreational tours 25 meters below the sea surface for $70 per person, according to its website. The brand owns two of just 14 recreational submersibles in the world and offers a diving experience following the trip, per its website.
The crash comes just months after a tourist yacht sank in November around the same area of the Red Sea, due to rough waters. Four people drowned in the incident, but 33 were rescued. The ship included some local Egyptian residents, as well as visitors from the U.S., Germany, Poland, Ireland, China, Slovakia and more, per the Associated Press.
At the time, the ship, named the Sea Story, had no known mechanical problems and obtained all required permits. However, surviving passengers said in reports that a large wave caused the ship to capsize, with the situation becoming dire “within minutes.”
And in 2023, OceanGate, another company coined as owning submersibles for “tourism and research,” had a devastating, headline-making implosion amid an expedition to the Titanic crash site. The 22-foot submersible, named The Titan, carried five men, including OceanGate’s founder Stockton Rush, before its deadly demise.
In a statement following the crash, the now-shut-down company called the men, “true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world's oceans.”
(E! and NBC News are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)
Keep reading for more details regarding the victims of the 2023 submersible implosion…
Shahzada Dawood & Son Suleman Dawood
On June 18, 2023, a deep-sea submersible Titan, operated by the U.S.-based company OceanGate Expeditions and carrying five people on a voyage to the wreck of the Titanic, was declared missing. Following a five-day search, the U.S. Coast Guard announced at a June 22 press conference that the vessel suffered a "catastrophic implosion" that killed all five passengers on board.
Pakistani-born businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood, both British citizens, were also among the victims.
Their family is one of the wealthiest in Pakistan, with Shahzada Dawood serving as the vice chairman of Engro Corporation, per The New York Times. His son was studying at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland.
Shahzada's sister Azmeh Dawood told NBC News that Suleman had expressed reluctance about going on the voyage, informing a relative that he "wasn't very up for it" and felt "terrified" about the trip to explore the wreckage of the Titanic, but ultimately went to please his father, a Titanic fan, for Father's Day.
The Dawood Foundation mourned their deaths in a statement to the website, saying, "It is with profound grief that we announce the passing of Shahzada and Suleman Dawood. Our beloved sons were aboard OceanGagte's Titan submersible that perished underwater. Please continue to keep the departed souls and our family in your prayers during this difficult period of mourning."
Stockton Rush
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush was the pilot of the Titan. The entrepreneur—who founded the research company in 2009 in Everett, Wash.—had long been interested in exploration. Rush, 61, previously said he dreamed of becoming the first person on Mars and once said that he'd "like to be remembered as an innovator."
In addition to leading voyages to see the remnants of the Titanic, Rush had another surprising connection to the historic 1912 event: His wife Wendy Rush is the great-great-granddaughter of a couple who died on the Titanic, Ida and Isidor Straus.
Hamish Harding
British billionaire Hamish Harding confirmed he was a part of the mission in a June 17 Instagram post, a day before the submersible went into the water and disappeared.
"I am proud to finally announce that I joined @oceangateexped for their RMS TITANIC Mission as a mission specialist on the sub going down to the Titanic," he wrote. "Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023. A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow."
Harding—the chairman of aircraft company Action Aviation—said the group had started steaming from St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada and was planning to start dive operations around 4 a.m. on June 18. The 58-year-old added, "Until then we have a lot of preparations and briefings to do."
His past explorations included traveling to the deepest part of the ocean in the Mariana Trench, telling Gulf News in 2021, "It was an incredibly hostile environment. To travel to parts of the Challenger Deep where no human had ever been before was truly remarkable."
The Dubai-based businessman also circumnavigated the Earth by plane with the One More Orbit project and, last year, took a trip to space on Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin New Shepard rocket. Harding shared his love for adventure with his son Giles, described as a "teen explorer" on his Instagram.
Paul-Henri Nargeolet
As for the fifth member, a representative for French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet told the New York Times that he was a passenger on the Titan, with Harding also referencing him on Instagram as a member of the team.
The Times described him as a maritime expert who was previously part of the French Navy. The 71-year-old was a bonafide Titanic specialist and has traveled to the wreckage 35 times before. Nargeolet served as the director of RMS Titanic, Inc., a company that researches, salvages and displays artifacts from the famed ship, per the outlet.
Alongside fellow passenger Hamish Harding, he was a member of The Explorers Club, founded in 1904.
The Titan
As Harding noted in his post, the submersible—named Titan—was a part of an OceanGate Expeditions tour that explores the wreckage of the RMS Titanic, which infamously sank in 1912.
The company expressed its sympathies to the families of the victims. "These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world's oceans," OceanGate said in a statement. "Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew."