Tourists can visit the Titanic shipwreck in 2021

Mitchelle D’Souza, Sub-editor/Reporter

The RMS Titanic has captured the imagination of millions, even spawning a blockbuster movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in 1997.

Audiences around the world saw the film gloriously capture life aboard the iconic transatlantic cruise liner, which met with a tragic fate following an iceberg collision back in 1912.

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Now, how about getting a closer look at the ship, or perhaps what remains of it?

Tourists can take a tour of the Titanic in 2021, the first time the shipwreck will be explored in 15 years.

Undersea exploration company OceanGate Expeditions are selling packages to visit the submerged vessel for a steep $125,000 (Dhs459,121).

Six trips are being planned for next year, to take place from May to September, with 36 tickets already sold.

Nine passengers are allowed per excursion, meaning there are 54 places available in total and 18 tickets left.

Visitors will get a private cabin on the eight-day sailing from Canada, plus will get the chance to operate a five-person submarine while completing the 90-minute descent to reach the shipwreck.

 The majestic RMS Titanic prior to her tragic collision with an iceberg. TNS

The dives will last six to eight hours a time, and will also serve as research missions to examine the sea life around the wreckage.

The transatlantic cruise liner, which famously sank during its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City in 1912 after hitting an iceberg, is located 4,000 metres underwater, around 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

There were 2,240 passengers and crew on board when the ship sunk, with more than 1,500 people dying in the tragedy.

There are no human remains left on board, according to experts, but there are many other well-preserved objects that once belonged to guests, including children’s toys, luggage and bottles.

“There are boots and shoes and clothes that show where people were 100 years ago, and that is very sombre,” Stockton Rush, president of OceanGate Expeditions, told Bloomberg.

However, not everyone is pleased with the news of taking tourists to the site of the wreck.

Beverley Roberts, a descendent of passengers who were on the Titanic, told theBBC that the shipwreck is a “mass grave site” and should be left in peace.

This may well be the last chance to explore the well-preserved shipwreck, for missions in 2019 discovered that the Titanic wreck is degrading rapidly.

There will be only a limited number of years left for people to visit and observe the Titanic remnants still standing above the ocean floor.