Woman whose husband and son died in Titan sub describes moment she knew something was wrong
A woman who lost her husband and son during the Titan submersible disaster has spoken about the first time she knew something had gone wrong.
On 18 June, 2023, the Titan submersible dived beneath the waves for the last time on a journey to the wreckage of the Titanic, the submersible was a vessel operated by the company OceanGate which had been warned about the sub's safety several times.
On board were OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, 61, British billionaire Hamish Harding, 58, Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, British-Pakistani billionaire Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his 19-year-old son Suleman.
About 90 minutes into the journey contact was lost with the sub and that's the last anyone heard of them.
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Waiting above the waves on a support vessel were OceanGate crew and family members of the passengers, including Christine Dawood who was married to Shahzada and mother to Suleman.
She spoke recently to Femme & Fortune to discuss the Titan's destruction and the loss of her family, and spoke about what it was like being on the support vessel as things took a turn for the worse.
Dawood said that when the Titan ran into difficulty 'we all thought that they are just stuck' and would need to drop some of their weights to rise again.
She said: "I was was sitting with some other crew members and then somebody came in and said, 'oh, they lost contact'.
"I went up to the bridge and checked what that is and they told me, 'yeah, they lost contact, but it's not unusual'."
However, even if the submersible had lost contact with the support vessel before this time it was in real danger, as the Titan never surfaced again and Dawood was left waiting for something that would never come.
"I think that the the the first big key moment was when when they were officially declared missing," she said, as the warning about the Titan went up some time after it was supposed to return from its hours-long voyage.
"Before we we just thought, 'okay, they're just going to be delayed. They're going to come back up. They're following protocol. They're going to drop some weights'.
"You know, we had two world experts in submersibles on it. And we all thought, 'okay, they're just going to come back up'."
Timeline of the Titan sub disaster
18 June 2023 - OceanGate's Titan submersible begins its descent
OceanGate Expedition's 21-foot submersible, named Titan, submerges at 8am E.T and begins its tour to the wreckage of the Titanic off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, 61, British billionaire Hamish Harding, 58, Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, British-Pakistani billionaire Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his 19-year-old son Suleman are onboard the vessel with a 96-hour oxygen supply.
The Polar Prince loses contact with the Titan around one hour and 45 minutes into its descent.
A few hours after the submersible was supposed to resurface, the US Coast Guard receives a report of an overdue submersible.
19 June 2023 - Search operation is launched
The US Coast Guard launches a large-scale operation when the vessel fails to resurface or make contact almost 24 hours on.
21 June 2023 - 'Banging noises' are detected
Two days on from the Titan's disappearance, sonar crews taking part in the search pick up 'banging noises', giving false hope that the passengers are still alive.
It's later concluded that, while the banging could have been made by a number of things, it was most likely the sonar picking up the sound of other vessels in the area.
22 June 2023 - Debris field discovered
At 1pm ET, the submersible's 96-hour oxygen supply is predicted to have run out, cementing fears for the crew onboard.
Later, the US Coast Guard confirms the Titan was destroyed by a ‘catastrophic implosion’ - a result of both enormous water pressure and failed materials - with the loss of all five people aboard.
28 June 2023 - Human remains found
'Presumed human remains' are recovered from the wreckage of the Titan submersible.
6 July 2023 - Oceangate suspends all operations
The company reveals on its website it will no longer be sending submersibles down to the Titanic or elsewhere.
Topics: Titan Submersible, World News
Joe Harker