Travis Barker’s Blink-182 provides comfort to stepson of lost Titan submersible passenger

Shortly after revealing that his stepfather, British billionaire explorer Hamish Harding, was among the five people in the Titanic-exploration submersible that’s been lost in the North Atlantic, a young audio engineer explained that he had found comfort Monday night by attending Blink-182’s concert in San Diego.

With the U.S. Coast Guard racing against time on Tuesday to find the submersible, OceanGate Expedition’s Titan vessel, Brian Szasz shared a photo of himself outside the Pechanga Arena in San Diego, where Blink-182, featuring drummer Travis Barker, was to play, TMZ reported. 

“It might be distasteful being here but my family would want me to be at the Blink-182 show as it’s my favorite band and music helps me in difficult times!” said the seemingly amiable Szasz.

An hour earlier, Szasz posted a link to a news story that confirmed that his stepfather, a veteran explorer, was on the submersible that had traveled deep into the ocean to view the wreckage of the Titanic.

“Hamish Harding, my stepfather, has gone missing on submarine,” Szasz wrote. “Thoughts and prayers that the rescue mission will be successful.”

Szasz received several dozen comments in support, and a few inquiries from reporters, asking if he’d be willing to be interviewed. In a follow-up post, he revealed that he had received an inquiry from former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson; he suggested he wasn’t happy about it.

“You know it’s a bad day when you get a phone call from Tucker Carlson,” Szasz wrote.

TMZ picked up on Szasz’s post about going to see Blink-182, which is a long-awaited reunion tour and comes to San Jose’s SAP Center on Thursday, June 22. It remains to be seen whether Szasz, who may or may not be all that media-savvy, gets social media blowback from people thinking it was insensitive for him to go out Monday night or to post about it.

So far, people are being supportive, including people who seem to know him and his family.

“They would absolutely want you to be there and enjoying yourself,” someone wrote. “Obviously your thoughts are with them. They know that!” Someone else said: “I hope you’re able to enjoy yourself and take your mind off of things for awhile, Brian. I’m praying for your family and hoping for the best!”

Meanwhile, people around the world are glued to the story about the Coast Guard’s efforts to find the submersible, which disappeared in deep water Sunday during a visit to the wreckage site.

Coast Guard officials said Tuesday they believed that the five people in the submersible only had about 40 hours of breathable air left, the New York Times reported. At a news conference, Capt. Jamie Frederick said they are putting in an “unwavering effort” to locate the submersible, with “our nation’s best experts” involved in the search. Frederick acknowledged that the effort is “complex” in that it involves combing an area the size of Connecticut, 900 miles off Cape Cod. They also need to deal with the logistics of combining surface and undersea searches in a remote area, the New York Times reported.

Szasz’s stepfather is a trained jet pilot, based in the United Arab Emirates, and has a long resume of participating in extreme expeditions, CNN reported.

The chairman of Action Aviation, an aircraft brokerage, he made headlines in 2019 for being part of a flight crew that broke the world record for the fastest circumnavigation of the globe via both poles. He became one of the first people to dive to Challenger Deep in the Pacific Ocean, widely believed to be the deepest point in the world’s oceans, CNN also reported.

Other passengers include Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French maritime expert who has been on over 35 dives to the Titanic wreckage site, and British businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman, the New York Times reported.