The Wokingham borough family of the adventurer killed with his fellow passengers aboard a submarine say they are devastated about the tragedy.
Hamish Harding, 58, was killed with four others on board.
The US Coast Guard last night (UK time) said debris findings were the result of a ‘catastrophic implosion’ of the vessel.
Mr Harding’s cousin, Kathleen Cosnett, 69, of Twyford, said today: “I’m devastated. I put the television news on yesterday evening and that’s when I heard all five had been killed.
“Tomorrow is Hamish’s birthday, it’ll be even more poignant then.
“His mother was staying in my parents’ house in London when she was due to have him.
“(More than 50 years ago) I watched his mother going off to the hospital to have him.”
Mrs Cosnett, a member of Twyford Singers, had been waiting anxiously for news of the submarine’s passengers since Sunday. It was then that news broke that the sub had lost contact with its surface vessel an hour and 45 minutes into its dive.
The debris was found near the Titanic wreck off Newfoundland, where the sea in the area is up to 2.4 miles deep.
Mrs Cosnett has criticised Mr Harding’s old college, Pembroke at Cambridge, for going ahead with a submarine-themed ball on Wednesday, June 21.
“The ball was unbelievable, what bad timing. They could have changed it at the last minute. It could be easily done,” she said.
She has also expressed concern about the time it took to get services organised to rescue the submarine’s passengers. She has described Mr Harding as a “kind and caring man and very adventurous”.
Her daughter Lucy Cosnett, 38, is goddaughter of Mr Harding. She is a nursery nurse working as a member of bank staff at nurseries in the borough.
Also from Twyford, she has spent an anxious time during the past few days, thinking of Mr Harding’s immediate family. On Wednesday she talked about his kindness towards her.
In August last year she flew to Austria to see Mr Harding, head of Action Aviation based in Dubai, being awarded a medal for his contributions to aviation and aerospace at the European Living Legends of Aviation Awards.
From there, she flew in his private jet to Dubai where he lives.
“While I was there we went to an indoor theme park – when I was younger we went to Alton Towers and also Disneyland in America,” she said on Wednesday.
She said he was a very kind, intelligent man. “He paid for my schooling and towards nursery training college. He has played an important part in my life.”
Lucy also flew to Texas last June to see Mr Harding fly into space on the Blue Origin space rocket.
“We saw him briefly before take-off and said goodbye to the astronauts. He wasn’t nervous. We were driven to the viewing platform to see the take-off,” she said.
