Time was steadily slipping away for any hope of saving Titanic tourists aboard the OceanGate submersible, and on Thursday, the Coast Guard confirmed that a debris field belonged to the Titan vessel, and tragically, none of the passengers survived. The public has held various degrees of empathy for the billionaires aboard the submersible (and much of the discussion has grown ugly), yet no one can deny that a particularly sad development is the death of 19-year-old Suleman Dawood.
The youngest passenger aboard the submersible reportedly had a bad feeling about the voyage. This doesn’t sound too hard to believe, given that we’ve heard about highly questionable maintenance/repair tactics and abundant red flags for what appears to have been a poorly constructed vessel that ended up imploding. According to Suleman’s aunt, Azmeh Dawood (sister to Suleman’s father, Shahzada Dawood, who also perished in this incident), the 19 year old did not want to be aboard the Titan at all. According to Azmeh, Suleman ultimately took the trip for Father’s Day:
Azmeh Dawood — the older sister of Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood — told NBC News that her nephew, Suleman, informed a relative that he “wasn’t very up for it” and felt “terrified” about the trip to explore the wreckage of the Titanic.
But the 19-year-old ended up going aboard OceanGate’s 22-foot submersible because the trip fell over Father’s Day weekend and he was eager to please his dad, who was passionate about the lore of the Titanic, according to Azmeh.
That hits hard. As well, former OceanGate tourists have agreed that this vessel was not safe, and one man felt as though he was on a “suicide mission.” The company’s CEO, Stockton Rush, is also among the dead following the vessel’s implosion after tickets went for $250,000 apiece. The ongoing saga has led to much debate among those who waited to hear the submersible’s fate as all hope for a lasting air supply diminished.
Additionally, the stepson of British billionaire Hamish Harding feuded with Cardi B, who criticized him for attending a Blink-182 concert while news of his uncle’s status hung in the balance.
(Via NBC News)