Azmeh Dawood, the aunty of the 19-year-old Titan passenger reveals he was terrified before the trip, but still went on the journey to please his father.
On 18 June 2023, Titan, a submersible operated by OceanGate, went missing in international waters in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
The passengers included British businessman Hamish Harding, Pakistani investor Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush.
A new development has it that all the passengers are now believed to be dead.
Although this news is tragic, the wife and family of Dawood are the ones going through a lot because they lost two members through the incident.
Mr. Dawood was the vice chairman of Engro Corporation, a business conglomerate headquartered in Pakistan in the southern port city of Karachi that is involved in agriculture, energy, and telecommunications. His family is known as one of the wealthiest business families in the country.
Per NBC News, the Parkistan business mogul’s sister, Azmeh Dawood has recounted how the lost Titan sub member’s teenage son felt before joining his father on this journey.
Courtesy Dawood family
What did Azmeh Dawood say about the death of Shahazada Dawood and his teenage son?
Suleman Dawood is the son of Shahzada Dawood. He is a 19-year-old university student who accompanied his father on the expedition.
Azmeh Dawood — the older sister of Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood — told NBC News that her nephew, Suleman, informed a relative that he “wasn’t very up for it” and felt “terrified” about the trip to explore the wreckage of the Titanic.
But the 19-year-old ended up going aboard OceanGate’s 22-foot submersible because the trip fell over Father’s Day weekend and he was eager to please his dad, who was passionate about the lore of the Titanic, according to Azmeh.
“I am thinking of Suleman, who is 19, in there, just perhaps gasping for breath … It’s been crippling, to be honest,” Azmeh said in a phone interview from the home in Amsterdam she shares with her husband, Jonathan.
She was devastated on Thursday when OceanGate, the company behind the Titan expedition, confirmed that all five passengers aboard were presumed dead. The U.S. Coast Guard said that debris in the search area was consistent with a “catastrophic implosion.”
“I feel disbelief,” Azmeh said, speaking through sobs. “It’s an unreal situation.”
The last four days were agonizing for Azmeh. She was glued to television news coverage of the hunt for the Titan, desperate for updates about her brother and nephew — and fearing the worst.
“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.”
“I never thought I would have an issue with drawing breath,” she added. “It’s been unlike any experience I’ve ever had.”
Azmeh and Shahzada are scions of one of the most prominent corporate dynasties in Pakistan. The family’s namesake business empire, Dawood Hercules Corp., has investments in agriculture, the health sector, and other industries.
Shahzada was the vice chairman of the Karachi-based Engro Corporation and an adviser to Prince’s Trust International, a charitable organization founded by King Charles III.