By Tony O’Reilly-
The teenage British university student who was killed in the tragic Titanic submarine ‘implosion’ was ‘terrified’ about the trip and only joined the crew to please his dad for Father’s Day, according to his aunty.
Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, 19, were two of the five victims killed instantly when the OceanGate submersible suffered a ‘catastrophic implosion’ just 1,600ft from the bow of the Titanic, according to the US Coast Guard.
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Suleman was a pupil at Glasgow University, it has since been revealed.
The other victims were OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, French Navy veteran Paul-Henri (PH) Nargeolet and British billionaire Hamish Harding. They had all been missing since the Titan sub vanished on Sunday, sending the world into a panic no were close to what those on the doomed submarine must have felt s held unto every glimmer of hope.
Tragically, Azmeh Dawood told NBC News that her nephew 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.
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‘I am thinking of Suleman, who is 19, in there, just perhaps gasping for breath… It’s been crippling, to be honest,’ the devastated aunt and sister told the US outlet from her home in Amsterdam.
. The victims have been identified by family members as OceanGate Expeditions founder and CEO Stockton Rush, British billionaire Hamish Harding, renowned French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Pakistani billionaire Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman.
In an interview published before the tragic developments were announced, Dawood’s sister Azmeh Dawood told NBC News that her nephew was absolutely scared, and only agreed to go on the expedition because it was important to his “Titanic-obsessed” father. Suleman reportedly told family members he was concerned about the tour and “wasn’t very up for it.”
The trip was over the Father’s Day weekend and he was keen to please his father, she added.
But that pleasure would have fastly deteriorated to sorrow and regret, as the young teen saw the real prospect of death approaching them.
The terror that must have befallen the teenager leading up to the dying moments of the submarine’s fate is unimaginable.
Most disturbing of the experience is the fact that five years before the tragedy, a top employee raised safety concerns about the Titan, but was arrogantly ignored by the bosses of the company.
In 2018, OceanGate fired director of marine operations David Lochridge, claiming he breached his contract and shared confidential information about its designs with two individuals as well as with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Mr Lochridge subsequently alleged in a wrongful termination suit obtained by The New Republic that he was fired for blowing the whistle concerning safety issues.
According to the suit, Mr Lochridge delivered highly critical updates regarding the ship’s quality control to senior management and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, pointing to alleged issues such as “visible flaws” in the ship’s carbon fibre hull, “prevalent flaws” in a scale model, flammable materials onboard, a viewing window not rated for the Titanic’s depth, and key safety documents that were not shared with him.
His warning must surely haunt those powerful men at the helm of the company who now realise he was right.
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