The remains of the British father and son who died in the Titan submersible disaster were returned as “slush in two small boxes”, their heartbroken mother has revealed.
Businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son Suleman Dawood, 19, were among five people killed when the Oceangate vessel imploded on its journey to the wreckage of the Titanic in June 2023.
In her first interview since the catastrophe, Christine Dawood told The Guardian: “We 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.”
She said “there wasn’t much they could find” of her family’s remains, which were recovered from the seabed and separated and DNA-tested 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.”
The Titan submersible was taking her husband and son to see the wreckage of the Titanic at the bottom of the North Atlantic. Ms Dawood was meant to be on the trip herself, but gave her ticket to her son.
When news first broke that the submersible was missing, the search became a worldwide phenomenon. It soon emerged that the hull had failed three hours into the dive and the vessel had imploded instantly.
“My first thought was, thank God,” Dawood told the newspaper. “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.”
A report from the US Coast Guard into the incident found that Rush ignored critical data and his “negligence” contributed to the deaths of those on board. It also found that its disappearance and implosion were “preventable.”
If Rush had survived, he likely would have faced criminal proceedings.
“From the beginning, I had a lot of reasons to hate Stockton, but does that really help me?
“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.”
She added: “It’s very hard. Being strong doesn’t mean you’re not feeling it.”
She told The Guardian there had been days when panic attacks completely paralysed her and how lights had felt too bright and any sound at all too loud.
“I have learned to give the grief attention,” she said. “So I go into Suleman’s room. Sometimes I find the cat sleeping on his pillow and I sit on the bed and let the grief come. And after a while, I can put the grief away until the next time it gets too much. I’ve worked a lot on my grief for Suleman, but I’m only now starting to grieve for my husband. Publicly, they are always put together, but they are two different relationships. Two very different pains.”
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