Teenager on Titan sub was ‘terrified’ of voyage but wanted to make his father happy

The aunt of the youngest passenger on board Titan has revealed her nephew was hesitant to join his dad on the doomed sub but did it for the Father’s Day weekend.

The youngest passenger on board the ill-fated Titan submarine was “terrified” about the voyage and “wasn’t very up for it”, his aunt has revealed.

Suleman Dawood, 19, was on the Titanic tour with his father Shahzada, when tragedy struck.

Speaking after Friday’s announcement that the crew of five died in a “catastrophic implosion”, Suleman’s aunt Azmeh Dawood, the older sister of Mr Dawood, said her nephew showed hesitation before the trip.

She said he decided to go on the voyage aboard OceanGate’s 6.7m submersible to please his dad – a Titanic enthusiast from a young age – because the trip fell over the Father’s Day weekend.

“I am thinking of Suleman, who is 19, in there, just perhaps gasping for breath … It’s been crippling, to be honest,” Ms Dawood said in an interview with NBC News.

Suleman Dawood and his father Shahzada. Picture: Handout / Dawood Hercules Corporation/ AFP

Talking through tears, Ms Dawood said she felt “disbelief” and had spent the past few days glued to the news for updates.

“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.

“I personally have found it kind of difficult to breathe thinking of them.”

Ms Dawood said she had drifted apart from her brother in recent years after moving from England to Amsterdam.

She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2014 and made the move to Amsterdam to access medicinal cannabis.

Her brother did not approve of her use of cannabis and spoke to her less often, she said.

But despite their differences she said “he was my baby brother. I held him up when he was born.”.

Ms Dawood said her brother was “absolutely obsessed” with the Titanic and when they were children would constantly watch the 1958 film A Night to Remember, a docudrama about Titanic’s maiden voyage.