NEWFOUNDLAND, CANADA: After it was reported that OceanGate did not immediately take action and that it took eight hours to declare the missing submersible's missing status, British billionaire Hamish Harding’s family started blaming the company for the delay. Kathleen Cosnett, a cousin of UK businessman Hamish Harding, 58, claimed the delay was 'far too long' before contacting authorities.

The search and rescue operations have been intensified, as a deep water robot sub is deployed along with another descending the 12,500 ft of ocean fast. Moreover, the Canadian vessel Horizon Arctic is a part of the operation with its Horizon Arctic, an ROV reaching the sea floor. A French ship L’Atalante arrived around 11.48 GMT and deployed Victor 6000, which can reach depths of 20,000 ft. “Today will be a critical day in this search and rescue mission, as the sub's life support supplies are starting to run low,” said Guillermo Sohnlein who co-founded OceanGate with Rush in 2009.

'Who all were on board on OceanGate?'

The other passengers on board include 61-year-old OceanGate founder, and CEO Stockton Rush, 77-year-old former French navy captain Paul Henry Nargeolet, British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood. On Thursday, June 22, Rear Admiral John 'Jay' Vann, of the US Coast Guard, said the operation 'remains an active search' and he 'remains hopeful' thanks to 'favorable' weather conditions. When he was asked about the banging noises, he said initial analysis suggested they were 'background ocean noise' but this was still being examined, according to the Daily Mail.

Why did OceanGate wait 8 hours?

“It's very frightening. It took so long for them to get going to rescue them, it's far too long. I would have thought three hours would be the bare minimum," Cosnett said. She further stated that it was ‘worrying’ that her cousin and the other passengers ‘may not have any extra oxygen left," she said. Harding’s godson, Robert Evans, said, "He's been like a father to me. A second father you could say. We are all still remaining hopeful. He took me on adventures, skiing, scuba diving, and to Machu Picchu. He was just incredibly good to me."