A "passionate explorer" was remembered by the family of British businessman Hamish Harding on Thursday. Harding was one of five passengers who perished while exploring the Titanic disaster in a submersible.


The US Coast Guard described the incident as a "catastrophic implosion" in the depths of the water, killing all five people on board and putting an end to the international search-and-rescue mission that had been launched after the small craft went missing in the North Atlantic four days earlier.


Passenger Harding, 58, was a British aviation tycoon with three Guinness World Records.

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A statement from his family and his company Action Aviation said they were "united in grief with the other families who have also lost their loved ones on the Titan submersible".


"He was one of a kind and we adored him," the statement said.


"He was a passionate explorer — whatever the terrain — who lived his life for his family, his business and for the next adventure," the statement said, describing Harding as a "loving husband and a dedicated father to his two sons".


"What he achieved in his lifetime was truly remarkable and if we can take any small consolation from this tragedy, it's that we lost him doing what he loved," the statement added.


With UK media stating that the businessman from the UAE was a billionaire, Harding formed Action Aviation, a company that buys and sells aircraft with headquarters in Dubai and London's Stansted airport.


Prior to founding Action Aviation in 2004, he spent five years working as the managing director of a logistics firm in Bengaluru, India.


His Guinness records are for longest duration and distance traversed at full ocean depth by a crewed vessel, and the fastest circumnavigation via both poles by plane.


A year ago, he became a space tourist through Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin company.


Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French expert in submarines, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, a Pakistani-British businessman, and Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, who operates the sub, were all on board with Harding.


In Boston on Thursday, Rear Admiral John Mauger informed reporters that an examination of debris discovered 500 meters (1,600 feet) from the Titanic's bow was compatible with the pressure chamber of the sub imploding.