Suleman Dawood died aged just 19 on after the Titan sub imploded on a voyage to see the Titanic shipwreck (Picture: AFP/Getty Images/BBC)
A 19-year-old student who died on the Titan sub after a ‘catastrophic implosion’ was worried about going on the trip but went along for Father’s Day, his family said.
Suleman Dawood and his dad Shahzada, 48, were two of five men killed after the 22ft submersible they were travelling on succumbed deep in the Atlantic Ocean.
The teenager’s aunt, Azmeh Dawood – and older sister of Pakistani businessman Shahzada – said her nephew told a relative before the voyage to see the Titanic wreckage that he ‘wasn’t very up for it’.
Azmeh said Suleman was ‘terrified’ of going on the OceanGate sub that was aiming to visit the sunken ocean liner on the seabed, 12,500ft below the surface.
She told NBC News: ‘Suleman had a sense that this was not okay and he was not very comfortable about doing it.
‘But it was a Father’s Day thing. It was a bonding experience and he wanted the adventure of a lifetime just like his father did.
‘His father wanted it and that was Sule all the way – he’d do anything for anyone.’
Shahzada Dawood was on the sub with his son Suleman as part of a Father’s Day trip together, according to relative Azmeh Dawood (Picture: BBC News)
Azmeh also said that the four other men who lost their lives on the expedition went for ‘their own interests’, but Suleman was just there to spend time with his dad.
She said: ‘They were there for their own reasons. Suleman was just there for a Father’s Day bonding experience.
‘To be honest, as terrible as it sounds, at least knowing that they wouldn’t have had time to know, they would have just been sat there enjoying themselves and then suddenly boom. It was over.
‘To know that my Sule didn’t feel a moment’s pain.’
Azmeh Dawood, Suleman’s aunt and Shahzada’s sister, told NBC that her 19-year-old nephew wasn’t comfortable with going on the sub (Picture: NBC)
Suleman Dawood was a university student in Scotland (Picture: AP)
The US Coast Guard confirmed the tail cone of the deep-sea vessel was discovered around 1,600 ft from the bow of the Titanic wreckage during a press conference in Boston.
Rear Admiral John Mauger said further debris was also found, in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland, that was ‘consistent with a catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber’.
Undersea expert Paul Hankin said five major pieces of debris helped to identify it as from the Titan submersible – including the vessel’s nose cone and the front end bell of the pressure hull.
The Dawood family released a statement on Thursday night, mourning the loss of the father and son, who was a student at university in Scotland.
‘Our beloved sons were aboard the OceanGate’s Titan submersible that perished underwater,’ the statement said.
Suleman and his dad Shahzada were two of five men killed on the Titan sub (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)
Shahzada Dawood was a successful businessman and part of one of Pakistan’s richest families (Picture: PA)
‘Please continue to keep the departed souls of our family in your prayers during this difficult period of mourning.’
Azmeh added: ‘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.
‘I personally have found it kind of difficult to breathe thinking of them.’
The family statement said they are truly grateful to those involved in the rescue operations and the ‘untiring efforts’ brought strength to the family.
They said: ‘We are also indebted to our friends, family, colleagues and well-wishers from all over the world who have stood by us during our hour of need.
‘We extend our heartfelt condolences to the families of the other passengers onboard the Titan submersible.’
The OceanGate Titan sub that succumbed in a ‘catastrophic implosion’ (Picture: EyePress News/Shutterstock)
British billionaire explorer Hamish Harding, American OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush and French Titanic expert Henri-Paul Paul-Henri Nargeolet also died in the accident.
Rear Admiral Mauger said there did not appear to be any connection between the underwater noises detected during the search and rescue mission and the location of the debris on the seafloor.
‘This was a catastrophic implosion of the vessel which would have generated a significant broadband sound down there that the sonar buoys would have picked up,’ he said.
The Wall Street Journal reported the US Navy said they detected a sound in the search area for the submersible on Sunday that was consistent with an implosion.
Safety concerns had been previously raised about the sub (Picture: PA)
According to court documents, safety concerns had previously been raised about the Titan submersible by a former employee of OceanGate.
The filings said David Lochridge, OceanGate’s former director of marine operations, claimed wrongful dismissal after flagging worries about the company’s alleged ‘refusal to conduct critical, non-destructive testing of the experimental design’.
Court papers suggest Mr Lochridge ‘identified numerous issues that posed serious safety concerns’ but he was allegedly ‘met with hostility and denial of access’ to necessary documents before later being fired.
The landing gear and rear cover was among the debris found by search teams, according to a friend of two of the passengers who were on Titan.
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‘He had a sense that this was not okay and he was not very comfortable about doing it.’