News
June 23 , 2023
Pakistan Foreign Office Condoles Death of Titanic Submersible Passengers
Washington: Following an urgent race to recover a 22-foot submersible that held five men on board to see the Titanic, search and rescue teams found Thursday morning outer parts of the Titan near the site of the Titanic wreckage. OceanGate, the company that led the mission, said the men on board are dead.
“This is a very sad time for the entire explorer community, and for each of the family members of those lost at sea,” the company wrote.
The debris found on the ocean floor about 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic was “consistent with catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber” in the submersible, said Rear Admiral John Mauger of the US Coast Guard. Coast Guard officials said it’s too early to tell whether the Titan imploded.
The Coast Guard said families of the five people on board have been notified.
Who are the passengers?
… The five men who set out to see the Titanic in the submersible include OceanGate's CEO Stockton Rush, British billionaire explorer Hamish Harding, French maritime and Titanic expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet and a father and son from one of Pakistan’s most prominent families Shahzada Dawood and Suleman Dawood…
Shahzada Dawood, 48, was on the board of trustees for the Dawood Foundation, an education nonprofit, according to the World Economic Forum , the board of the SETI Institute, a non-profit research organization, and he served as vice chairman on the board of Pakistani Engro Corporation. His son, Suleman Dawood, 19, loved science fiction, solving Rubik’s Cubes and playing volleyball, the New York Times reported .
Shahzada Dawood's older sister told NBC News she was "absolutely heartbroken" over the deaths.
"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," she said in tears. "I personally have found it kind of difficult to breathe thinking of them." - USA TODAY
According to The News, Pakistan's foreign office offered condolences to the Dawood family over the sad incident in which Shahzada Dawood and his son lost their lives while on board the tourist submersible, Titan.
"Our deepest condolences to the Dawood family and the family of other passengers on the sad news about the fate of Titanic submersible in the North Atlantic," said Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, the Foreign Office spokesperson on her official Twitter handle on Friday.
"We appreciate the multinational efforts over the last several days in search of the vessel."
"These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world's oceans," OceanGate Expeditions said in a statement. "Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time."
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