Man killed in Titanic submersible was integral to SA-Namibia cheetah conservation mission

One of the five voyagers who died in the Atlantic Ocean on a tourist submersible to view the wreck of the Titanic played a pivotal role in the translocation of cheetahs in Southern Africa to India. 

Captain Hamish Harding, a UK billionaire and chairman of Action Aviation, with four other voyagers, was declared dead on Thursday.

Harding visited Southern Africa last September to assist with a conservation mission, Project Cheetah, to relocate cheetahs to India.

According to Indian publication, DailyO, the project involved relocating cheetahs from South Africa and Namibia to Kuno National Park over five years.

The India Times reported Harding worked with Vincent van der Merwe from the Cheetah Meta-population Project of South Africa and Dr Adrian Tordiffe, a wildlife veterinarian from South Africa, among other conservatives, on the project. 

Harding flew from Namibia in a Boeing 747 to Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, where cheetahs were introduced. He was welcomed by the Indian prime minister.

In a Facebook video before taking off from Namibia, Harding said he was proud to be part of the project to reintroduce cheetahs in India, where the animals faced extinction more than seven decades ago.

“I feel the cheetahs are so important they should be upgraded to first class, but their crates fitted much better in the economy section. I hope they understand,” he joked at the time. 

Before the ill-fated journey to view the Titanic, Harding said he was proud to be a “mission specialist”, saying: “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.

“I am proud to announce I joined the OceanGate Expedition submersible for their RMS Titanic mission as a mission specialist on the sub going down to the Titanic,” Harding wrote on Instagram.

“A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow. We started steaming from St Johns, Newfoundland, Canada, and are planning to start dive operations around 4am. Until then we have a lot of preparations and briefings to do.

“The team on the sub has a couple of legendary explorers, some of which have done more than 30 dives to the RMS Titanic since the 1980s, including PH Nargeolet.”

OceanGate described Harding and the four other voyagers as “true explorers”, saying they shared “a distinct spirit of adventure and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans”. 

“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,” it said. 

“This is a sad time for our dedicated employees who are exhausted and grieving deeply over this loss. The entire OceanGate family is deeply grateful for the countless men and women from multiple organisations of the international community who expedited wide-ranging resources and have worked hard on this mission.

“We appreciate their commitment to finding the five explorers and their days and nights of work in support of our crew and their families.”

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