The woman who lost both her son and her husband in the Titan submersible implosion said she made a last-minute decision to give her seat up for her son, according to an interview with the BBC.
Christine Dawood lost her 19-year-old son Suleman and 48-year-old husband Shahzada after the Titan submersible imploded during a dive down to visit the Titanic wreckage. Dawood told BBC on Monday she was initially supposed to be on the Titan with her husband but “stepped back and gave the space to Suleman.”
Suleman’s aunt said the teen was “terrified” to go on the dive but did it for his father, though Christine disputed the claim, saying Suleman was actually upset that he initially couldn’t go on the trip since it was booked pre-pandemic and he was too young at the time. (RELATED: Investor Says Submersible ‘Designed To Come Back Up’ After 24 Hours)
TOPSHOT – Art school students give final touches to a painting depicting five people aboard a submersible named Titan, that went missing near the wreck of the Titanic, in Mumbai on June 22, 2023. (INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP via Getty Images)
“Suleman was so disappointed because they only allowed [ages] 18+,” Christine recounted. “[It] was supposed to be Shahzada and I going down” but since Suleman turned of age during the pandemic, Christine said she “stepped back and gave the space to Suleman because he really wanted to go.”
“I was really happy for them because both of them, they really wanted to do that for a very long time,” Christine recounted, saying she “hugged and joked” with her son and husband just before they went into the submersible.
“I miss them,” she continued. “I really, really miss them.”
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) announced Thursday afternoon that the passengers of the Titan were “lost” in a “catastrophic implosion.” The USCG announced hours earlier they had discovered debris near the Titanic wreckage at the bottom of the North Atlantic. None of the bodies of the five passengers have been recovered. A top-secret U.S. Navy system is thought to have picked up sounds of the lost submersible’s implosion moments after it lost communications, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing defense officials familiar with the search.