The British student who was killed in the tragic Titanic submarine implosion was “terrified” about the trip and only went to please his dad for Father’s Day, his heartbroken aunt has revealed.
Tributes have poured in for Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son Suleman Dawood, 19, following the devastating incident off the coast of Canada.
Their families have expressed “profound grief” and paid tribute to their exploration endeavours.
Debris was found in the search for the missing Titanic sub on Thursday afternoon (GMT) on the seabed about 500m from the bow of the Titanic wreck.
It was analysed and confirmed to belong to the Titan, and family members were informed there had been no survivors.
The bodies of the five deceased crew members may never be found, Admiral Mauger said.
Speaking to NBC News, Azmeh Dawood, the older sister of Shahzada Dawood, said her nephew had informed a relative he “wasn’t very up for it” but felt compelled to please his father, who was very passionate about the 1912 shipwreck.
She reportedly said through tears: “I feel disbelief. It’s an unreal situation.”
“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.”
She said she “personally found it kind of difficult to breathe thinking of them”, adding: “It’s been unlike any experience I’ve ever had”.
Azmeh herself admitted she would not have gotten on the Titan submersible “if you gave me a million dollars”.
The Titan submersible vanished 105 minutes after launching from the Polar Prince icebreaker research ship about 900 miles off the coast of Cape Cod on Sunday morning.
The Titan’s twin communication systems — texts and electronic pings — suddenly stopped communicating with the support vessel, and no further sign of life was detected until Thursday’s grim discovery.
A sweeping search effort involving Canadian Boeing P-8 Poseidon and C-130 Hercules reconnaissance aircraft, 10 vessels and underwater sonar buoys had been combing an area of the North Atlantic Ocean twice the size of Connecticut for the past several days.
