The grieving wife and mother of two of Titanic’s victims was unaware of the possibility of an implosion as she agonizedly waited for the ship to resurface – until a call to the US Coast Guard confirmed they had found debris.
According to the US Coast Guard, UK-based billionaire Shahzada and his son Suleman Dawood were two of the five victims who died instantly when the submersible suffered a “catastrophic implosion” just 1,600 feet from Titanic’s bow.
The US Navy had spotted sounds “suggesting an implosion” shortly after Titan lost contact on Sunday. However, this was deemed “not definitive” and the details were not released publicly – the search and rescue mission continued until debris was found.
Shahzada and Suleman’s wife and mother, Christine Dawood, said she believed they would be fine at first when they first lost communication.
But after 96 hours, she lost hope — followed by a call from the US Coast Guard confirming debris had been found.
Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman perished on the Titan submersible
Shahzada Dawood, 48, (pictured with his wife Christine) was a UK-based board member of the Prince’s Trust charity. She said his enthusiasm “brought out the best in her.”
In an extraordinary BBC interview, in which Ms Dawood was praised for her composure in the face of endless double grief, she revealed how she and her 17-year-old daughter Alina were on Titan’s supply ship, Polar Prince, and hugging “excitedly”. and joked. Shahzada and Suleman said goodbye and went to board the doomed submarine.
Hours later, on June 18, communications broke off. That day, she and Alina believed that they would be fine, after initially not returning.
But Ms Dawood said she finally “lost hope” on Thursday, when 96 hours had passed since her husband and son boarded the submersible, meaning they had run out of oxygen.
Her daughter held out a little longer, she said, until hours later when she received a call to the US Coast Guard to inform her that debris had been found — something they were unaware of at the time.
It was then announced that the Titan had imploded and the five adventurers on board were dead.
Christine Dawood paid tribute to her son and husband in an interview with the BBC
Suleman Dawood, 19, was the youngest victim of the Titan submarine tragedy. He is pictured with his mother Christine
Christine revealed that she had planned to visit the Titanic wreck in the OceanGate submarine with her husband but her trip was canceled due to the Covid pandemic.
“Then I took a step back and gave them space to settle in.” [Suleman] “Get up because he really wanted to go,” she said.
After contact with the ship was lost, Christine and her 17-year-old daughter Alina waited for news at the spot where Titan was last seen during the search and rescue mission.
“We had loads of hope, that was the only thing that kept us going because we had hope,” she said.
In addition to her husband and son, three other people died aboard Titan: Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate, 61, British businessman Hamish Harding, 58, and Paul-Henry Nargeolet, 77, a former French Navy diver and veteran Titanic diver.
Christine said those afloat were trying to stay hopeful, telling themselves, “There were so many things people on that sub could do to surface … they dropped the weights, then the approval would be slower, we were constantly on the.” Search.” on the surface. There was that hope.’
She and her daughter initially gave hope after initially not returning.
She said: “We all thought they were just going to show up so the shock was delayed by like ten hours or so.”
“When they were supposed to be back up, there was a time … when they were supposed to be back up on the surface and when that time was up, the real shock came, not the shock but the worry and the not so good.” Feelings started .’
Despite the bleak outlook as the hunt dragged on, she said her teenage daughter never lost hope of saving her father and older brother.
Billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding, who lost his life aboard the Titan, is pictured gazing out to sea before boarding the submersible
French naval veteran PH Nargeolet (left) and Stockton Rush (right), CEO of the OceanGate Expedition, also perished on Titan
Rescue work is continuing and investigators have mapped the scene of the accident, Cpt Neubauer said at a news conference in Boston.
He also said convening a Marine Board of Investigation is the highest level of investigation by the US Coast Guard. It’s unclear how long it will last. The US Coast Guard said it does not charge for search and rescue operations.
The Coast Guard launched a so-called Marine Board investigation on Friday, Neubauer said, and is working with the FBI to gather evidence.
This includes a salvage operation at the wreckage site on the sea floor approximately 1,600 feet (488 meters) from the bow of the Titanic wreck, approximately 2 1/2 miles (4 km) below the surface.
Findings will be shared with the International Maritime Organization and other groups “to help improve the safety framework for diving operations worldwide,” Neubauer said.