Wife & Mother Of Titanic Expedition Victims Shares She Let Her 19-Year-Old Son Take Her Place Because He ‘Really Wanted To Go’

Wife & Mother Of Titanic Expedition Victims Shares She Let Her 19-Year-Old Son Take Her Place Because He ‘Really Wanted To Go’

It’s been nearly a week since reports of the Titanic submersible killing a total of five passengers spread like wildfire.

Now, Christine Dawood (wife and mother of fallen victims Shahzada and 19-year-old Suleman Dawood) is finally breaking her silence on the horrific occurrence.

Christine Dawood

The underwater transport, administered by Washington-based diving company OceanGate, descended its mother ship on Sunday (Jun. 18) to travel about 13,000 feet down into the North Atlantic to see the remains of the infamous Titanic wreckage.

If you didn’t know, the world-renowned British boat sank after striking an iceberg while journeying to New York City in 1912, with over 1,000 fatalities resulting from the disaster.

Unfortunately, approximately 120 minutes into Shahzada and Suleman Dawood’s trip to the historical site (alongside three other men), OceanGate’s remote-controlled craft lost communication with its host.

(from left to right) Suleman, Shahzada Dawood

The sudden accident led to a massive, (nearly) week-long search for the missing unit. Ultimately, debris from the submersible was discovered, suggestively concluding that the vessel had tragically imploded with all of the explorers still inside of it.

During a recent interview, Christine Dawood shared that she and her daughter were aboard the vessel that carried the individuals out to the departure point when she learned that it had gone unreachable.

She said,

“I was sitting with people… talking, and then somebody came down and said, ‘We lost [communication].’ And I think I didn’t comprehend, at that moment, what that meant.”

Christine Dawood added:

“It just went downhill from there.”

Initially, the mourning family member said that she held on to a little bit of hope that Shazada and Suleman Dawood would make it back above water, as the OceanGate team relayed that they’d had those sorts of discrepancies before.

She explained,

“The first day was when the communication was lost, fairly early on. And then it was just waiting like, ‘Okay, they’re going to, you know, come back up.'”

Dawood continued:

“We were just waiting for them to come back up. And everybody was like, ‘Oh, it’s not uncommon, but they’re going to come up.'”

When asked about her initial reaction upon realizing the severity of the situation, Dawood recounted that it wasn’t until the hours progressed and the window for the men’s oxygen supply dwindled that she began to panic and told everyone that she was “preparing for the worst.”

“That shock was delayed by about ten hours or so. By the time they were supposed to be up again. Like, there was a time. I don’t remember the time, but [there was a time] where they were supposed to be up on the surface again. And when that time passed, that’s when the real shock–not shock–but the worry and the not-so-good feeling started.”

Christine Dawood

Dawood then revealed the heartbreaking news that she and Shahzada, her husband, were originally supposed to go on the excursion, but she let her son, Suleman, take her spot.

They’d been planning to go on the experience for a while but opted not to amid the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Shahzada was so excited to go down. He was like a little child. He had this ability of child-like excitement, so [him and Suleman] both were excited.”

Dawood expressed,

“I was really happy for them because, both of them, they really, really wanted to do that for a very long time. So, it was supposed to be Shahzada and I going down, but then I stepped back and gave the space to Suleman because he really wanted to go.”

Christine Dawood wanted to talk to the BBC and pay tribute to the son and husband she lost. #Titan

Longer interview running on @BBCWorld on-air and online

? @robtaylortv @EloiseAlanna pic.twitter.com/q1LW946xpn

— Nomia Iqbal (@NomiaIqbal) June 25, 2023

Shahzada was a prominent businessman, while his son, Suleman, was currently attending college in Scotland.

OceanGate founder Stockton Rush, British tycoon Hamish Harding, and deep-sea researcher Paul-Henri Nargeolet were also on the submersible. $250,000 was the going rate for the tour.

Our deepest prayers and condolences go out to the families and friends of the casualties.

[VIA]