Friend hits back claims teen was ‘terrified’ before Titan sub trip

A family friend of the father and son who died in the Titanic submersible has slammed claims the 19-year-old was “terrified”.

A friend of the father and son who died on the Titanic exploration submersible has slammed claims the 19-year-old was “terrified” of the trip but went through with it as a treat to his dad for Father’s Day.

Businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman were two of a group of five men killed when the Titan submersible suffered a “catastrophic implosion”.

OceanGate, the company behind the expedition, released a statement on Friday morning confirming its CEO Stockton Rush, Hamish Harding, Paul-Henri Nargeolet and the father-son duo had “sadly been lost”.

Suleman’s aunt, Azmeh Dawood, told NBC News her nephew “wasn’t very up for it” but had gone along to please his dad, who was passionate about the 1912 shipwreck.

However, Osman Waheed, close friend of the Dawood family, has claimed “there is no world in which” he could imagine Suleman would express reservations and his parents would not listen to him. He insisted he just did not “see that happening”.

“You know Shahzada and I both have two children, a boy and a girl, so my son is 20 - just a little bit older than Suleman and from that age Suleman was as adventurous as his dad was. He was always climbing trees, running around barefoot in the garden,” Mr Waheed told TalkTV’s Peter Cardwell.

“If I were to describe the relationship between father and son - in fact all four of them - there’s two things that really stood out.

“One is the love they have for each other and the other is the shared reverence with which they treated each other.”

Businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman were killed in the sub implosion. Picture: Handout / Dawood Hercules Corporation / AFP

Mr Dawood was one of Pakistan’s richest men. He lived in the UK with Suleman, his wife Christine, and daughter Alina.

Mr Waheed shared fond memories of the family.

“Shahzada and Christine would make fun of each other, the kids would make fun of the parents. But they had a really close relationship in which they could say anything to each other,” he said.

“So there is no world I could imagine in which Suleman would express this kind of reservation and Shahzada and Christine would not listen - I just really don’t see that happening.”

Shahzada Dawood pictured with his wife Christine. Picture: Facebook

The older sister of Mr Dawood told NBC News she was in “disbelief” over the “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.

The devastated aunt said she had found it difficult to breathe while thinking of her late loved ones, saying it had been “unlike any experience I’ve ever had”.

Not even a million dollars would convince her to board the submersible, she added.

In recent years, Ms Dawood had fallen out of touch with her brother, who was the vice chairman of Engro Corporation.

She was diagnosed with primary progressive multiple sclerosis in 2014 and “reduced to being in a wheelchair.”

She and her husband decided to move from England to Amsterdam to gain easier access to medical cannabis. Her brother reportedly disapproved of her use of the drug.

Since hearing of his death, Ms Dawood had reminisced on life with her sibling as a child.

“He was my baby brother, I held him up when he was born,” she said.

The grieving sister remembered her brother as someone who was “thoroughly good-hearted”.

Suleman’s grandparents, Hussain and Kulsum Dawood, paid tribute to their beloved grandson and son, describing their passing as an “unimaginable loss”.

Shahzada Dawood, the vice-chairman of Karachi-headquartered conglomerate Engro. Picture: Handout / Dawood Hercules Corporation / AFP

On Thursday, the US Coast Guard announced that an implosion killed all passengers instantly as they plummeted to the sea’s black depths to explore the 111-year-old remains of the Titanic.

Debris from the Titan wreckage found on the ocean floor — some 3.8km below the surface — is “consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber”, which means the weight of the ocean crushed it sometime after the Titan lost touch with its surface vessel on Sunday.

An unmanned undersea probe found five big pieces of debris about 0.48km from the RMS Titanic, which sank in 1912.

It’s not clear what caused the implosion. The ship’s hull is still missing, authorities said. But the debris would only have been found if the vessel had suddenly imploded.

The Coast Guard didn’t say whether there was any plan to recover the five bodies.

The other passengers lost on the vessel were British billionaire explorer Hamish Harding, French Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush.

“We offer our most heartfelt condolences for the loved ones of the crew,” Coast Guard Captain Jamie Frederick said on Thursday.

The US and Canadian coast guards mounted a massive search for the sub, which only had about 96 hours worth of oxygen when it vanished. But it was too late.

“Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time,” OceanGate said in a statement.

“We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew.”

Titan submersible passengers Hamish Harding (top left) Stockton Rush (top right) Paul-Henry Nargeolet (bottom left) and father-and-son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood (bottom right). Picture: Various sources / AFP

OceanGate released a statement expressing its condolences while thanking all involved in the search efforts.

“These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans,” it read.

“Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time.

“We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew.”

The statement continued: “This is an extremely sad time for our dedicated employees who are exhausted and grieving deeply over this loss.

The entire OceanGate family is deeply grateful for the countless men and women from multiple organisations of the international community who expedited wide-ranging resources and have worked so very hard on this mission.

“We appreciate their commitment to finding these five explorers, and their days and nights of tireless work in support of our crew and their families.

“We respectfully ask that the privacy of these families be respected during this most painful time.”

— with the New York Post