Bucks Co. Explorer Awaits Fate Of Friends On Titanic Expedition

BUCKS COUNTY, PA —Alfred Hagen knows his friends are running out of time and air.

As an explorer who has visited the wreckage of the Titanic twice, the Bensalem businessman has traveled on the Titan, the submersible rescuers are desperately searching for in the North Atlantic after it lost contact about two hours into its voyage on Sunday morning.

"I have friends gasping for breath and dying as we speak," Hagen told Patch as he was conducting interviews with news organizations throughout the country Monday. "I see them reflected through the lens of suffering. Nothing is impossible, but this is as difficult as you can get. It's an incredible challenge. It was one thing finding the Titanic, but this is finding a 20-foot-long tube. It's a needle at the bottom of the ocean."

Hagen —the owner of Hagen Construction on Street Road in Bensalem who also has a horse farm in Furlong —has spent time undergoing dives around the world, including eight salvage missions to retrieve Navy fliers from World War II.

The coast guards of the United States and Canada are among those seeking the deep-sea vessel. It was reported late Tuesday that a Canadian aircraft detected underwater noises and that search efforts have been relocated.

Hagen knows time is running out.

The Titan was supplied with 96 hours of oxygen for its voyage. That runs out at 11 a.m. Thursday, he said.

"This is a great challenge," Hagen said. "We need to rise to the occasion."

Hagen has two friends on the submersible, including Frenchman Paul Henri Nargeolet, who was on a voyage to the Titanic wreckage with him in July 2022.

"He's one of my close friends and one of the greatest deep divers in the world," Hagen said. "He's a wonderful man."

Nargeolet was on the vessel along with Hagen's other friend, Ocean Gate Expedition CEO Stockton Rush.

Hagen doesn't know why the Titan didn't resurface as planned. But he knows what it means if the vessel is lost at sea.

"I grieve for them," Hagen said. "It's a wealth of knowledge and life. If they're lost, it will impoverish a piece of the world."