Current:Home > Contact-usTitanic Sub Passenger, 19, Was "Terrified" to Go But Agreed for Father’s Day, Aunt Says-LoTradeCoin
Titanic Sub Passenger, 19, Was "Terrified" to Go But Agreed for Father’s Day, Aunt Says
View Date:2024-12-23 18:51:00
Further details about the passengers of the OceanGate's Titanic submersible have emerged days after its disappearance.
Businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood were among the five Titan passengers presumed dead June 22, after officials found evidence consistent with an implosion taking place during their dive.
Suleman had initially been hesitant to go on the trip, telling a relative he felt "terrified" about the underwater excursion, according to his aunt Azmeh Dawood.
Explaining that her nephew "wasn't very up for it" at first, Azmeh recalled to NBC News that the teen ended up going on the trip because it fell on Father's Day and he wanted to please his dad Shahzada.
"I am thinking of Suleman, who is 19, in there, just perhaps gasping for breath," Azmeh said on June 22. "It's been crippling, to be honest."
Calling the situation "unreal," she added, "I feel like I've been caught in a really bad film, with a countdown, but you didn't know what you're counting down to. I personally have found it kind of difficult to breathe thinking of them."
The Titan lost contact with the surface approximately an hour and 45 minutes into its June 18 dive, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. Fearing that the crew would run out of oxygen, a massive search-and-rescue mission for the sub was launched.
However, officials confirmed on June 22 that rescuers found debris from an external part of the submersible "consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber."
"This is an incredibly unforgiving environment down there on the sea floor," First Coast Guard District commander Rear Adm. John Mauger said during a press conference. "The debris is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel."
All passengers aboard the Titan are presumed dead, including OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, British billionaire Hamish Harding and French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
"These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world's oceans," OceanGate said in a statement. "Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew."
For more details about the Titan passengers, keep reading.
On June 18, 2023, a deep-sea submersible Titan, operated by the U.S.-based company OceanGate Expeditions and carrying five people on a voyage to the wreck of the Titanic, was declared missing. Following a five-day search, the U.S. Coast Guard announced at a June 22 press conference that the vessel suffered a "catastrophic implosion" that killed all five passengers on board.
Pakistani-born businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood, both British citizens, were also among the victims.
Their family is one of the wealthiest in Pakistan, with Shahzada Dawood serving as the vice chairman of Engro Corporation, per The New York Times. His son was studying at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland.
Shahzada's sister Azmeh Dawood told NBC News that Suleman had expressed reluctance about going on the voyage, informing a relative that he "wasn't very up for it" and felt "terrified" about the trip to explore the wreckage of the Titanic, but ultimately went to please his father, a Titanic fan, for Father's Day.
The Dawood Foundation mourned their deaths in a statement to the website, saying, "It is with profound grief that we announce the passing of Shahzada and Suleman Dawood. Our beloved sons were aboard OceanGagte's Titan submersible that perished underwater. Please continue to keep the departed souls and our family in your prayers during this difficult period of mourning."
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush was the pilot of the Titan. The entrepreneur—who founded the research company in 2009 in Everett, Wash.—had long been interested in exploration. Rush, 61, previously said he dreamed of becoming the first person on Mars and once said that he'd "like to be remembered as an innovator."
In addition to leading voyages to see the remnants of the Titanic, Rush had another surprising connection to the historic 1912 event: His wife Wendy Rush is the great-great-granddaughter of a couple who died on the Titanic, Ida and Isidor Straus.
British billionaire Hamish Harding confirmed he was a part of the mission in a June 17 Instagram post, a day before the submersible went into the water and disappeared.
"I am proud to finally announce that I joined @oceangateexped for their RMS TITANIC Mission as a mission specialist on the sub going down to the Titanic," he wrote. "Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023. A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow."
Harding—the chairman of aircraft company Action Aviation—said the group had started steaming from St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada and was planning to start dive operations around 4 a.m. on June 18. The 58-year-old added, "Until then we have a lot of preparations and briefings to do."
His past explorations included traveling to the deepest part of the ocean in the Mariana Trench, telling Gulf News in 2021, "It was an incredibly hostile environment. To travel to parts of the Challenger Deep where no human had ever been before was truly remarkable."
The Dubai-based businessman also circumnavigated the Earth by plane with the One More Orbit project and, last year, took a trip to space on Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin New Shepard rocket. Harding shared his love for adventure with his son Giles, described as a "teen explorer" on his Instagram.
As for the fifth member, a representative for French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet told the New York Times that he was a passenger on the Titan, with Harding also referencing him on Instagram as a member of the team.
The Times described him as a maritime expert who was previously part of the French Navy. The 71-year-old was a bonafide Titanic specialist and has traveled to the wreckage 35 times before. Nargeolet served as the director of RMS Titanic, Inc., a company that researches, salvages and displays artifacts from the famed ship, per the outlet.
Alongside fellow passenger Hamish Harding, he was a member of The Explorers Club, founded in 1904.
As Harding noted in his post, the submersible—named Titan—was a part of an OceanGate Expeditions tour that explores the wreckage of the RMS Titanic, which infamously sank in 1912.
The company expressed its sympathies to the families of the victims. "These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world's oceans," OceanGate said in a statement. "Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew."
For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News AppveryGood! (7)
Related
- 'Survivor' 47, Episode 9: Jeff Probst gave players another shocking twist. Who went home?
- Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian and Ye feud timeline: VMAs to 'The Tortured Poets Department'
- NHL games today: Everything to know about Sunday playoff schedule
- A man escaped Sudan’s bloody civil war. His mysterious death in Missisippi has sparked suspicion
- Amtrak service disrupted after fire near tracks in New York City
- AP Photos: A gallery of images from the Coachella Music Festival, the annual party in the desert
- Online gambling casts deepening shadow on pro sports
- National Cold Brew Day 2024 deals: Where to get free coffee and discounts on Saturday
- Review: 'Emilia Pérez' is the most wildly original film you'll see in 2024
- Cavaliers grind out victory over Magic in Game 1 of NBA playoff series
Ranking
- Supreme Court seems likely to allow class action to proceed against tech company Nvidia
- 'Pulp Fiction' 30th anniversary reunion: John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, more
- White Green: Emerging Star in Macro Strategic Investment
- Trump set to gain national delegates as the only choice for Wyoming Republicans
- Video shows Starlink satellite that resembled fireball breaking up over the Southwest: Watch
- Boxer Ryan Garcia misses weight for Saturday fight, loses $1.5 million bet to Devin Haney
- Colorado organizers fail to gather enough signatures to put anti-abortion measure on the ballot
- Boston Dynamics' robot Atlas being billed as 'fully-electric humanoid': Watch it in action
Recommendation
-
Atmospheric river to bring heavy snow, rain to Northwest this week
-
Taylor Swift’s New PDA Video With Travis Kelce Puts Their Alchemy on Display
-
Can you use hyaluronic acid with retinol? A dermatologist breaks it down.
-
A cop ran a light going 88 mph and killed a young father of twins. He still has his badge
-
Craig Melvin replacing Hoda Kotb as 'Today' show co-anchor with Savannah Guthrie
-
5 Maryland teens shot, 1 critically injured, during water gun fight for senior skip day
-
Camp Lejeune Marine dies during training exercise, prompting investigation
-
NHL power rankings entering playoffs: Who has best chance at winning Stanley Cup?