• Five people remain missing on board a submersible tourist vessel touring the Titanic wreck

• The submersible has about 96 hours of emergency oxygen on board, enough to last until Thursday morning

• It is thought the vessel set sail at 4am before losing contact at around 5.45am

• Those missing include British explorer Hamish Harding, a British-based Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman

• The other are French submersible pilot, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, and chief executive of OceanGate Expeditions, Stockton Rush

• Search 'expands to deeper waters', US Coast Guard says (see post at 3.09pm)

• Friends of missing passengers 'very, very worried (see post at 2.35pm)

• One former passenger has said there is ‘no escape’ from the vessel (see post at 9.53am)

• Another dive expert warned of a 1% chance of survival (see post at 9.36am)

Missing submersible: Read more

• Where is the Titanic wreckage? (The Independent)

• Profile: British explorer, father and son onboard missing Titanic tourist sub (Evening Standard)

• British Navy expert warns ‘timescale’ of missing Titanic sub is ‘very concerning’ (Independent)

• We’ve feared this’: veteran Titanic explorer tells of concern (Guardian)

Titanic tourist submersible goes missing

The race continues to rescue five people on board a missing tourist submersible that was on its way to visit the shipwreck of the Titanic.

British billionaire Hamish Harding is on board the Titan submersible operated by OceanGate Expeditions reported missing on Sunday evening in the mid-Atlantic about 435 miles south of St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada.

Contact with the small vessel was lost about an hour and 45 minutes into its dive, with the US Coast Guard saying it has one pilot and four mission specialists on board with up to 96 hours of emergency oxygen.

Harding, 58, the chairman of private plane firm Action Aviation, is also an explorer who has flown to space and holds three Guinness World Records.

Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son, Suleman, 19, are also on board the submersible, their family confirmed.

French explorer Paul-Henry Nargeolet is also thought to be on board, as is Stockton Rush, the chief executive of OceanGate.

The firm charges $250,000 (£195,000) for an eight-day trip including dives to the wreck of the Titanic.

The Titan submersible weighs more than 10,000kg and can reach depths of 13,100ft.

A major search and rescue operation is being led by the US Coast Guard and includes military aircraft 900 miles east of Cape Cod.

Rear Admiral John W Mauger of the US Coast Guard said the crew have up to 96 hours of emergency oxygen on board.

“We anticipate that there’s somewhere between 70 to the full 96 hours at this point,” he said.