Missing French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet is world expert on Titanic

Paul-Henri Nargeolet, French explorer and director of underwater research at a company that owns the rights to the Titanic wreck, who is among the passengers onboard the submarine that went missing on trip to the wreckage, speaks during an interview in Paris, France, in this still image from an undated handout video obtained by Reuters on June 20, 2023. HarperCollins France/Handout via REUTERS

PARIS (Reuters) - French oceanographer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, one of the five people on board a submersible missing in the North Atlantic, is a world renowned expert with more than 35 dives to the Titanic shipwreck under his belt, his colleagues said on Wednesday.

"He is the world specialist on the Titanic, its conception, the shipwreck, he has dived in four corners of the world - he is a super-hero for us in France," said Mathieu Johann, his editor at Harper Collins.