Christine Dawood lost her husband and son on the Titanic submarine – and now she’s opened up on her suffering after the devastating tragedy.
In June 2023, the Titan lost communication with its support ship one hour and 45 minutes into its dive into the North Atlantic to view the wreckage of the Titanic.
For four days, Christine and her 17-year-old daughter Alina waited on the support ship for her husband Shahzada, 48, and her son Suleman, 19, to return to the surface.
But they never returned, and they died at the bottom of the sea with three other crew members, including Stockton Rush, CEO of Titan owner OceanGate.
Christine said to the Daily Mail: “The moment we knew they’d found debris and there were no survivors, Alina and I went on deck. Until that moment we’d had hope. We took some cushions with us and just sat there looking out at the ocean. We were both crying.”
READ MORE: Titan sub debris and more human remains found in search of Atlantic seabed
Christine revealed that she uttered the words “I’m a widow now” to her daughter, who replied: “Yes, and I’m a single child.”
She admitted waking up every morning is difficult because some days she still doesn’t believe the tragedy happened.
Describing her late son as an “angel”, Christine said no parent should ever have to grieve for their child.
Suleman was studying at Strathclyde University in Glasgow and had been planning to join his father’s business when they boarded the Polar Prince.
Sadly, the OceanGate sub exploded and she never saw her husband or son again.
Christine said that she was supposed to go with Shahzada into the Titan submersible instead of her son.
But there were delays due to Covid and by the time they were ready to venture down, her son was old enough to go.
She explained: “In hindsight would I have wanted them not to go? Absolutely – but I can’t really say I would have denied them an opportunity like that. If they had come back up and nothing had happened, it would have been quite a different story to tell.”
Suleman would have turned 20 years old on Monday. Christine ordered balloons for him because her son was “always happy” when he got balloons.
When asked about her feelings towards OceanGate and CEO Stockton Rush, who also died, Christine admitted it was “complicated”.
Christine explained: “There were a lot of people who showed us support during that time. So, anger at OceanGate? I don’t know. But Stockton is not my favourite person in this mess. It’s difficult because we don’t know exactly what happened as the investigation is on-going. But I do feel angry.”
She added: “Now 2024 is starting, who knows? 2023 was like this black hole, darkness…with the new year, maybe we can bring some light into the dark.”
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