The 19-year-old passenger, who died aboard the Titan submersible, was “terrified” of an expedition to the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, his aunt told NBC News.

• Also read: The likely implosion of the submersible was discovered by the US Navy on Sunday

• Also read: Submersible implosion: James Cameron ‘struck by similarities to Titanic disaster’

• Also read: Three hypotheses to explain Titan’s “catastrophic” implosion

Azmeh Dadwood, the sister of the influential Pakistani businessman who was also killed in the implosion, broke the silence Thursday after hours of grief.

In an interview with NBC News, the woman said her nephew Suleman expressed fears just before the $250,000 field trip began.

AFP

According to the lady, the young university student told a relative that he wasn’t “very motivated” and that the idea of ​​getting up close and personal with the wreck of the Titanic scared him.

As Father’s Day approached, Suleman Dadwood still believed he would enjoy accompanying his father on this outing, as he had always been interested in the circumstances of the Titanic tragedy.

From her residence in Amsterdam, the lady managed to express her feelings since the OceanGate company confirmed the deaths of the five passengers on board the small submarine.

“I think of Suleman, who is 19 years old, sitting in the submersible, maybe out of breath […] To be honest, it paralyzed me […] I’m at a loss for words, it’s an unreal situation,” she said emotionally during her short interview with NBC News.

AFP

Since the Titan was reported missing on Sunday, Azmeh Dadwood and her partner Jonathan have been constantly checking mainstream media reports for further developments.

“I feel like it was all a bad movie, shot in real time, but you don’t know what to expect,” she says.

The Europe-based woman finds it hard to imagine the suffering her loved ones endured at more than 3,000 meters under sea, despite the risks these expeditions entail.

Shahzada Dadwood, 48, was the head of a business empire in Pakistan involved in energy, agriculture, petrochemicals and telecommunications.

AFP

A former University of Alabama student has claimed that her sorority fined her $4,000 for missing homecoming events for a week while her father was battling cancer.

Katherine Ellis, 24, from Boston, Massachusetts, has more than 45,000 followers on TikTok, where she documents her life as a sports reporter, podcast host and content creator.

In a recent video, she spoke about her participation in Bama Rush when she started her freshman year in 2017.

“Imagine you join a sorority in Alabama and you think it’s for the best thing,” she began, “but then your dad gets cancer and they’re trying to fine you thousands of dollars for it.”

Katherine Ellis, 24, of Boston, Massachusetts, went viral on TikTok after she claimed her sorority in Alabama punished her for leaving campus after her father was diagnosed with cancer

Ellis, who began her freshman year at the University of Alabama in 2017, explained that she and her sisters had to prepare for homecoming for eight hours a day for two weeks

Sororities and fraternities are an important part of campus culture at the University of Alabama, where 36 percent of undergraduate students belong to the Greek community.

The Alabama sorority recruitment process, known as the “Bama Rush,” has become a viral sensation in recent years as a number of prospective students vie to become a part of Greek life.

“I went to Alabama as a freshman, and like every single girl there who wants a social life, I’m in a hurry,” Ellis explained. “If you want to rush to Alabama, you have to make that decision months in advance and then go through the entire registration process.”

“Registration is an application that takes a lot of time,” she noted. “You must submit photos of yourself.” You must submit your resume [and] letter of recommendation. “I didn’t know I needed damn letters of recommendation to hang out with some girls and go to parties.”

Ellis said she tried to prepare by watching YouTube videos and talking to people she knew in sororities to figure out what she needed to do to get in.

However, she wished someone had warned her that her grade point average would hurt her chances of running for a fraternity.

“Thousands of girls are rushing through the crisis at the same time. So you can’t use the first round to choose who you want in your fraternity or not because the first round takes about five minutes,” she said.

“So the first round is all about dropping grades, and no one told me that if I got a GPA below 3.0, I’d be kicked out of almost every single house outright.”

They had to roll colorful tissue paper into tiny balls and arrange them into decorative portraits, a tradition in Alabama known as “pomping.”

Ellis said she wasn’t able to get going at full speed for a week after her father was diagnosed with cancer and underwent “life-threatening” surgery. She dropped out after her sorority fined her $4,000

“I also have no idea why the sororities even care about grades because I got a 2.9 at Bama and left with a 4.0,” she added. “If you can spell Bama — not even Alabama — you can get a 4.0 at this school.”

Ellis considered quitting after being rejected by most of the school’s sororities, but she stuck with it because she had already paid for enrollment.

In the end she was accepted into a sorority, but did not name which one, and decided to give Greek life a try for the semester.

The content creator explained that in honor of her homecoming, she and her sisters had to roll colorful tissue paper into tiny balls and arrange them into decorative portraits, a common Alabama tradition known as “pomping.”

“In the two weeks leading up to the homecoming, we had to be at the sorority house eight hours a day and get really excited,” she said.

Ellis claimed that her big sisters would take away their cell phones and college ID cards to prevent them from getting distracted or leaving.

“If you’re caught not actively hanging out, the hour doesn’t count, and for every hour you miss, you owe them $100,” she said.

It was then that Ellis’ father was unexpectedly diagnosed with cancer and flew across the country to be with him while he underwent “life-threatening surgery.”

Ellis left the University of Alabama after her freshman year and transferred to Boston University, where she graduated in 2021

Ellis’ video has been viewed more than 3.7 million times, and some commenters were inspired to share their own sorority horror stories

Rather than meet with sympathy when she returned to campus, her sorority punished her for leaving during homecoming preparations.

“I missed a week and they fined me $4,000,” she said. “So I fell.”

Ellis left the University of Alabama after her freshman year and transferred to Boston University, where she graduated in 2021.

She told her story ahead of the release of last month’s sensational HBO documentary, Bama Rush, which exposed the dark underbelly of Panhellenic culture.

‘Sisterhood! I’m right?’ She captioned the video, which has garnered 3.7 million views since it was posted on May 6.

More than 2,300 viewers commented on their experience, and some were inspired to share their own horror stories of sorority.

“I was fined for missing an event because I was in the ER,” one person recalled.

‘It’s crazy. My daughter was in the sorority. “She missed meetings for surgery and was fined,” another responded.

“I was fined for going to my grandfather’s funeral,” added another.

Ellis noted in the comments that she didn’t pay the fine, and she was also happy to report that her father has been cancer-free for four years.

A pod of killer whales encountered one of the boats during a long-distance sailing race as it approached the Strait of Gibraltar. This is the latest encounter, which researchers say is a growing trend of sometimes aggressive interactions with Iberian orcas.

The 15-minute encounter with at least three of the giant mammals forced the crew taking part in Thursday’s ocean race to furl their sails and create a clatter to scare off the oncoming orcas. No one was injured, but Team JAJO skipper Jelmer van Beek said it was “a scary moment” in a video posted to The Ocean Race’s website.

“Twenty minutes ago we were hit by some orcas,” he said in the video. “Three orcas came straight at us and started banging on the oars. It is impressive to see the orcas, beautiful animals, but also a dangerous moment for us as a team.”

Team JAJO was nearing the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea on a leg from the Netherlands to Italy when at least three orcas approached the VO65 class sloop. Videos taken by the crew showed that one of the killer whales appeared to be touching the rudder; Another video showed one of them ramming his nose into the fuselage.

Scientists have noticed increasing reports over the past four years that orcas, which average 16 to 21 feet (5 to 6½ meters) long and weigh more than 8,000 pounds (3,600 kilograms), have bumped into or damaged boats off the west coast of the Iberian Peninsula .

The behavior cannot be easily explained. A team of marine researchers studying killer whales off Spain and Portugal have identified 15 individual orcas involved in the encounters – 13 of them young, supporting the hypothesis that they are playing. The fact that the two are adults could support the competing and more sensational theory that they are reacting to a traumatic event with a boat.

The sailors were warned of the danger.

“We knew there was a possibility of an orca attack on this leg,” said Team JAJO onboard reporter Brend Schuil. “So we had already talked about what to do if the situation were to arise.”

Schuil said a call was made to all hands on deck and the sails were lowered to slow the boat from a racing speed of 12 knots. The crew made noises to scare off the orcas, but not before falling from second to fourth place on the stage from The Hague to Genoa, where they are due to arrive this weekend.

“They seemed more aggressive/playful when we were sailing at high speed. As we slowed down, they also became less aggressive in their attacks,” he said. “Everyone is fine on board and the animals are fine too.”

The Ocean Race sees two classes of sailboats at sea for weeks, with the IMOCA 60 boats competing in a six-month 32,000 nautical miles (37,000 miles, 59,000 km) circumnavigation of the world. The boats were already dealing with a huge seaweed fleet, a catastrophic equipment failure and a collision that knocked the leader out of the crucial seventh stage.

Although the circuit avoids restricted zones to protect known marine habitats, whale encounters have previously occurred in the Ocean Race and other high-speed regattas.

More often than not, however, the boats collide with the animals and not the other way around.

One of the boats in this year’s ocean race, which circumnavigated the world, sounded its danger alert after encountering a suspected whale off the coast of Newfoundland in May. Two crew members were injured in the collision. At the start of the 2013 America’s Cup in San Francisco Bay, a whale was reported in the bay and organizers were prepared to reschedule the race if it made it onto the track. In 2022, the start of SailGP’s $1 million Season 2 championship race in the same area of ​​San Francisco Bay was delayed when a whale was sighted on the course.

In 2005, the first South African yacht to compete for the America’s Cup struck a whale with her 12-foot keel during training near Cape Town, causing the 75-foot sloop to stop dead in the water, injuring two crew members and both steering wheels broke off.

AP sportswriter Bernie Wilson contributed to this story.

Since late April, several hundred additional officers have been deployed to the archipelago to crack down on illegal immigration.

The gendarme of the Mayotte naval brigade bluntly presses the throttle of the M’Djabbar boat. The two 300 hp outboard engines roar and propel the boat up to 40 knots or almost 75 km/h. The hull bangs on the waves of the Indian Ocean. The four gendarmes have just been alerted by the command post to an echo on their radar in front of the 101st French department.

“You’ll have it at 1 p.m.!” shouts one of the gendarmes, opening his arm slightly to the right. A small white dot glows on the horizon, almost invisible to the uninitiated eye. One of the officers picks up a launcher with defense balls in case of a difficult interception. All also have their handguns on their belts. Gradually, the blackhead increases in size and the tension subsides. False alarm. It is not a kwassa-kassa, the boat popular with Comorian smugglers to transport migrants from Anjouan Island – the closest island to Mayotte – but a small motorized fishing boat. After the papers of the two fishermen have been checked, the soldiers start looking again for other suspicious boats.

Four gendarmes of the Mayotte nautical brigade, June 21, 2023. (ROBIN PRUDENT / FRANCEINFO)

Since the start of Operation Wuambushu, the gendarmes have been visible throughout Mayotte. Around 370 additional soldiers were sent to the island as reinforcements at the end of April, according to the Interior Ministry. These four mobilized squadrons bring the number of land, sea and air gendarmes in the archipelago to a thousand. The objective set by Gérald Darmanin is to fight crime, unhygienic housing and illegal immigration in the department. On Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th June, the resident of Place Beauvau will also visit a local stage destination.

In 2022, more than half a thousand boats were intercepted

A few days earlier, on Wednesday June 21, as the sun rose over Petite-Terre, four gendarmes began their duties on the M’Djabbar, the oldest interceptor in her fleet (11 years of service). From 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., they roam the territorial waters in search of boats that can transport illegal immigrants. “Last night, three Kwassa-Kassa were intercepted by our Border Police colleagues,” said Chief Warrant Officer Defer, wearing aviator shades and a shaved head.

For the thirty gendarmes who make up the Mayotte naval brigade, the priority is the fight against illegal immigration, which mainly comes from the neighboring Comoros. According to the prefecture, in 2022, of the 772 kwassa kassas discovered, 571 were intercepted by authorities.

But how many fall through the cracks of the French authorities? There is no official number. According to calculations by Mayotte La 1ère, the interceptions would account for only a third of the number of boats that wanted to dock in the French department. At the same time, thousands of undocumented migrants are being sent back the opposite way. According to the prefecture, more than 26,000 people were displaced from Mayotte in 2022, mainly to the Comoros.

“Is the fishing good?”

With every alarm from the command post, the crew embarks on a surveillance at sea. However, the radar devices scattered across the island do not allow precise knowledge of the condition of the boats. Only fishing boats are checked this morning. “You have to get closer to shore!” says a police officer to two fishermen in a wooden canoe. “The waves can be big here and the boats are often very rustic,” explains the man in blue.

Two fishermen were checked by the Mayotte nautical gendarmerie brigade on June 21, 2023. (ROBIN PRUDENT / FRANCEINFO)

In the Banc d’Iris, north of Mayotte, other fishermen were sometimes at sea for several days. “Is the fishing good?” a gendarme asks one of them. The answer lies in a few small fish hidden in a cooler. The man hardly speaks French. Luckily, one of the gendarmes on the team knows the basics of the Mahoran and Comorian languages. “We don’t always have someone who speaks their language, which is sometimes complicated,” admits the commander-in-chief.

In the distance, the island of Anjouan takes shape. A new call from the command post urges the crew to another fishing boat. “Sometimes the radar also detects whales,” smiles a police officer. Luckily, mid-air reinforcements allow for more precise control of the boats. The sea brigade also wants drones to avoid unnecessary interventions.

“Sometimes there are stones”

Since the beginning of Operation Wuambushu, the number of crossings seems to have decreased slightly. But it’s difficult to get an accurate idea of ​​it, because the season isn’t the best for smugglers. “At the moment there are trade winds, it’s a headwind coming from the Comoros,” explains the boatman. “It’s impossible to predict in advance whether there will be boats or not, it varies a lot,” comments the supreme commander, whose last arrest was more than a month ago. One of his colleagues on board intercepted a kwassa kwassa just a few days ago.

Everyone remembers frantic arrests in the middle of the sea. The commander-in-chief remembers a boat in which 43 people were crammed together. “Once I also had a zebu and goats,” recalls one of the officers. “Sometimes there are rocks as you approach,” commented another. Over the years, smugglers have also become more professional. “They can arrive from any side of the island,” explains the Supreme Commander. Sometimes they wait in groups before dispersing so we can’t intercept all the boats.” A photo by the gendarmerie shows eleven cash registers near French waters in 2021.

Just before 2 p.m., the team returned to its base in Petite-Terre. There were no arrests that day. Another group is to work with the border police to ensure a 24-hour presence at sea. However, two months after the arrival of the first reinforcements, some have already left and an additional rotation had to be abandoned. In a few months, the “high season” of migrant crossings is likely to start again.