The older sister of Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, who was killed alongside his son in the Titan submersible, said she heard the heartbreaking news on the television.
Azmeh Dawood had been estranged from her 48-year-old brother and 19-year-old nephew for five years amid an alleged family feud.
She exclusively told Daily Express US that she only found out they were on the doomed vessel when she received a call from her ex-husband early on Tuesday morning – the day after the sub went missing.
“It was bizarre,” Azmeh said through the tears. “Nobody in my family told me that they were on the submersible, it was only when, 24 minutes into Tuesday morning, my ex-husband phoned me to tell me that Shahzada and Suleman were in there.”
Azmeh, in disbelief, turned to the internet to see if it was true, and sadly, it was.
Between Tuesday morning and Thursday afternoon when the deaths of the five passengers onboard the sub – Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, French explorer Paul Henri Nargeolet and British billionaire Hamish Harding – Azmeh profusely called her family members seeking an update. She claims her calls were either ignored or declined.
On Thursday afternoon, when the US Coast Guard made an official statement, announcing the deaths of the Titan five, Azmeh, her husband, and her two sons – Suleman’s close cousins – find out they had been killed.
The Titan imploded on June 18, shortly after losing communication with its carrier Polar Prince, killing those onboard within seconds due to the vast pressure at those depths of the ocean.
Azmeh added: “I had to watch everything on the news, just like everybody else in the world. My parents called me shortly after their deaths were announced, but I already knew.”
Despite losing contact with her brother and nephew five years ago, Azmeh said that Suleman sent her a random WhatsApp message a few days before he embarked on the journey down to the Titanic wreckage which ultimately cost him his life.
She said this was “strange” and she “knew something was up” but not out of character as he was “such a sweet boy”.
Azmeh added: “Suleman was the gentlest, kindest, and most loving boy. There are people in this world that are givers and some that are takers, and he was of life’s givers. He did things for people, and we all loved that about him.
“I would like him to be remembered this way. He showed us what true love is. He spread love everywhere he went.”
Her brother was a huge Titanic fan from a very young age. She explained how as a child, they would watch the 1958 film ‘A Night to Remember’ on VHS back in Pakistan, which is when Shahzada’s fascination with the tragedy was born.
She said: “Shahzada was always obsessed with the Titanic. We would repeatedly watch a taping of A Night to Remember, and he just loved the history behind it.
“A trip down to the wreckage on the submersible really would have been the ultimate gift for my brother.”
Azmeh said that her brother was a “really sensible, stable and solid” man and a very good father. He was into plants and nature, and he loved growing things.
“He found magic and wonder in everything he did,” she said.
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