OceanGate Expeditions' submersible Titan imploded during a descent to the Titanic wreck in June 2023. Image / OceanGate
OceanGate Expeditions' submersible Titan imploded during a descent to the Titanic wreck in June 2023. Image / OceanGate
The woman who lost her husband and son in the Titan submarine tragedy has described receiving their remains as “slush” in two small boxes.
Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood were two of the five people who died when OceanGate’s submersible imploded during a descent to theTitanic wreck in June 2023.
In her first interview since the deaths, Christine Dawood told the Guardian last week how the family didn’t get the bodies for nine months.
“Well, when I say bodies, I mean the slush that was left. They came in two small boxes, like shoeboxes.”
A search and rescue effort led by the United States Coast Guard and involving aircraft, ships and underwater equipment from Canada and France found debris near the Titanic, the Herald reported at the time.
Dawood said “there wasn’t much they could find” of the remains, which were recovered from the seabed and separated as best they could be through DNA testing by the US Coast Guard.
“They have a big pile they can’t separate, all mixed DNA, and they asked if I wanted some of that, too. But I said no, just what you know is Suleman and Shahzada.”
Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, 19, are seen just before they boarded the Titan submersible. Photo / NZME
Dawood was the one who found the trip and bought the tickets. She was meant to be on the trip with her husband, but gave her ticket to her son.
It is believed those on board died “in milliseconds” after a “catastrophic implosion” when the Titan imploded on its journey to the Titanic, the Herald reported.
“My first thought was, thank God,” Dawood told the Guardian. “When they said catastrophic, I knew Shahzada and Suleman didn’t even know about it. One moment they were there and the next they weren’t. Knowing they didn’t suffer has been so important. They’re gone, but the way they went does somehow make it easier.”
An investigation by the US Coast Guard found that OceanGate chief executive Stockton Rush disregarded critical warnings and that his negligence contributed to the deaths of all five on board, the Independent reported.
“From the beginning, I had a lot of reasons to hate Stockton, but does that really help me?” Dawood told the Guardian.
“He died with them. If I’m angry with him, I’m giving him power and I refuse to do that. I’m sure people will say I’m naive, but if I start to analyse every single thing, where does that lead me? So, I choose my own ... not happiness but ... I choose me, every day. If I don’t, I wouldn’t be here. I would have killed myself, for sure.
