British Billionaire Hamish Harding, who was aboard the OceanGate Expedition vessel en route to view the Titanic wreckage, sent his friend a chilling text the day before the sub went missing.
OceanGate Expeditions offers private eight-day tours of the wreckage site for $250k per person.
The vessel was reported missing Sunday night when it didn't return to its support ship on time.
Harding's friend, retired NASA astronaut Col. Terry Virts, shared with Good Morning Britain that Harding sent a concerning text the day before the submersible went missing.
It read:
βHey, weβre headed out tomorrow, it looks good, the weatherβs been bad so theyβve been waiting for this."
Harding himself shared his excitement on Instagram before his voyage, revealing that a "weather window" had opened up after what he said was Newfoundland's worst winter in 40 years.
Virts acknowledged that Harding was aware of the risks associated with the voyage.
βHe understood the risks for sure, thereβs no doubt about that."
He also shared Harding's other risk-associated accomplishments.
βHe went down to the deepest part of the ocean, set a few world records...at the Mariana Trench and we talked quite a bit about the risks and the different things that they were going to be able to do."
"So he was very excited about it."
Additionally, Harding has made trips to the South Pole and visited space on the Blue Origin mission last year.
You can watch Virt's interview with Good Morning Britain below.
Chilling last text of British billionaire stuck in missing Titanic sub revealedyoutu.be
People around the world are hoping for a positive outcome.
\u201c@outtaminds I pray and sincerely hope they are rescued soon.\u201dβ quinn (@quinn) 1687293672
\u201c@outtaminds I hope they find them!\u201dβ quinn (@quinn) 1687293672
\u201c@outtaminds hope this story turns out right. i really do.\u201dβ quinn (@quinn) 1687293672
\u201c@outtaminds I pray they are rescued in time\u201dβ quinn (@quinn) 1687293672
\u201c@TraneemAlajmi Hoping for the best and their safe return. The sea is as relentless as space is. I'm hoping for their recovery.\u201dβ Taraneem Alajmi (@Taraneem Alajmi) 1687299958
\u201c@TraneemAlajmi Regardless of the risk they took by embarking on such a dangerous trek, these are innocent people, and I sincerely hope that they will be found and rescued.\u201dβ Taraneem Alajmi (@Taraneem Alajmi) 1687299958
\u201cPray \ud83d\ude4f for the recovery of: \nPaul-Henry Nargeolet, 73\nStockton Rush, 61\nHamish Harding, 58\nShahzada Dawood, 48\nSulaiman Dawood, 19\n#Titanic || #OceanGate ||\u201dβ Abdul Sami Khan Saad (@Abdul Sami Khan Saad) 1687328383
\u201c@latestinspace I hope they find him and the rest of the passengers safely soon.\u201dβ Latest in space (@Latest in space) 1687234036
\u201c@outtaminds @kingofhe4rts \ud83d\ude4f\ud83c\udffd\ud83d\ude4f\ud83c\udffd\ud83d\ude4f\ud83c\udffd\u2764\ufe0f\u201dβ quinn (@quinn) 1687293672
\u201c@outtaminds let\u2019s hope and pray they are ok.\u201dβ quinn (@quinn) 1687293672
The four others on board the vessel with Harding are Shanzada Dawood, 48, and his son Sulaiman, 19, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, and Stockton Rush, 61, the founder and CEO of OceanGate.
You can lean more about the situation below.
UK billionaire Hamish Harding on board the missing Titanic submersibleyoutu.be