CEO of Titanic sub tour is aboard vessel, company says

The CEO of the company whose submersible went missing during a visit to the wreck of the Titanic on Sunday is now aboard the vessel, the company said.

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush is among the five people on the submersible, which rescuers are racing against the clock to locate as its oxygen supply dwindles. On Tuesday afternoon, the U.S. Coast Guard estimated there are about 40 hours of breathable air left in the 21-foot vessel.

The Titan submersible had a 96-hour oxygen supply when it began its dive at 6 a.m. Sunday. A Canadian research ship lost contact about two hours into the expedition.

Rush was joined by British billionaire Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, and French explorer and Titanic expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet on the trip to see the wreck from 1912.

At least 10,000 square miles have been searched thus far, and sonar buoys and a P8 Poseidon aircraft capable of detecting objects underwater have been deployed as part of the search and rescue effort, according to the Coast Guard.