'Knowing they didn't suffer has been so important': Widow whose husband and 19-year-old son died in Titan submarine disaster tells of her relief at learning they went instantly

Published: 02:21, 26 April 2026 | Updated: 02:24, 26 April 2026 A widow whose husband and 19-year-old son died in the Titan submarine disaster has told of her relief at learning they were killed instantly.  Christine Dawood was left devastated after Shahzada Dawood, 48, and Suleman Dawood lost their lives on the submersible on June 18, 2023.  The vessel had been attempting to dive down to the seabed to see the wrecked HMS Titanic in the North Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.  But the craft imploded 500m above its destination in a tragedy that also killed three other passengers - and made headlines around the world. Mrs Dawood, from Surrey, who has a surviving 20-year-old daughter, has now spoken out in detail about the disaster for the first time.  At one point in the search and rescue operation, operators realised the sub must have collapsed inwards within a fraction of a second, killing all five men instantaneously.  The trained psychologist, who has written a book about her ordeal, told The Guardian: 'My first thought was, "Thank God"... 'I knew Shahzada and Suleman didn't even know about it. One moment they were there and the next they weren't.  Christine Dawood (pictured) was left devastated after Shahzada Dawood, 48, and Suleman Dawood lost their lives on the submersible on June 18, 2023  The vessel had been attempting to dive down to the seabed to see the wrecked HMS Titanic in the North Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. Pictured: Mr Dawood, right, with his son, left But the craft (pictured, file photo) imploded 500m above its destination in a tragedy that also killed three other passengers - and made headlines around the world  'Knowing they didn't suffer has been so important. They're gone, but the way they went does somehow make it easier.'   She first came across an advertisement for the expedition, which was run by submersible diving company OceanGate, during lockdown in 2020.  The firm was founded by chief executive Stockton Rush in 2009, with the aim of increasing access to the deep ocean.  In 2013, he began developing Titan, which was constructed experimentally, using a carbon fibre hull and cylindrical shape.  It marked a change from the titanium or high-strength steel spheres more often used for building submersibles for their ability to withstand underwater pressure.  But Mr Rush was convinced of the strength of the vessel, named for the Titanic, which had been dubbed 'unsinkable' before its infamous crash in 1912.  Mrs Dawood began exploring the idea of embarking on an expedition on the craft with a travel agency, Quintessentially, which said it was feasible.  She suggested to her husband that they initially attempt a shallow dive, to get accustomed to the feeling of being locked inside the 6.7m-long craft.  But Mr Dawood was determined to take on the full journey down to the Titanic immediately.  His wife said this was a mark of the purposefulness that made him successful in business.  The family's idea of taking the trip was, however, forgotten for the next two years while the world recovered from lockdown.  It was only in late 2022 when Quintessentially called to ask if they would still be interested that they began to revisit the notion.  The cost, of $500,000 for two seats, was staggering even for the Dawoods, with Mr Dawood being a member of one of the wealthiest families in Pakistan.  But they decided to go for it, reassured by their research into the safety of civilian submersible trips - they could not find a single one that had ended in a accident.  The family also trusted Quintessentially, which they paid a sizeable subscription to - and had previously organised trips for them to Antarctica and Greenland.  A spokesperson for the travel agency has since said in a statement that the services it provides to its members are confidential.  But they emphasised the firm has never had a commercial relationship with OceanGate, promoted their expeditions or recommended it to clients.  The spokesperson said the agency 'will continue to be supportive to the Dawood family'.  In February 2023, Rush and his wife Wendy, OceanGate's director of communications, flew from Seattle to London to meet the family.  The couple reassured the Dawoods the trip was unique and worth their money, as no other submersible could take as many as five people to the deep ocean.  Rush said he had taken the vessel down to the Titanic 13 times and described the incredible sights they would see during the journey and upon arrival.  The family had little experience with any kind of underwater activities, even snorkelling - and Mr Dawood, his wife said, was soon enraptured by Rush. But she noted Mrs Rush appeared quieter and more tense during the conversation - perhaps in the knowledge there were risks her husband was not mentioning.  She was notably alarmed, Mrs Dawood said, for instance, when Mr Rush acknowledged contact was sometimes lost with the sub. The chief executive had indeed failed to mention to the Dawoods the hundreds of technical issues and countless aborted dives OceanGate had previously faced.  He had also failed to investigate an explosive noise on the submersible during an expedition in July 2022.  The vessel was also operating under the radar, without inspection or classification by a maritime authority, a process he said was too slow and 'stifled innovation'.  Titan was also not registered to carry passengers - and had spent the icy Canadian winter sat uncovered and unmonitored in a car park in the city of St John's.  And in a tragic twist of fate, Mrs Dawood's son, who was fascinated by the Titanic, ended up taking one of the pair of tickets that was meant to have been hers.  'I was happy for him to make memories with his father. I can't change that,' she said.   On June 14, 2023, the Dawoods set off, flying from London to Canada before taking a ship the some 400 miles out to the waters where the Titanic lay.  What the family did not know is the vessel, an old ice breaker called the Polar Prince, was all OceanGate could afford, with its funds running low.  Among those onboard the doomed vessel were OceanGate founder and CEO Stockton Rush Also killed in the tragedy were Paul-Henri Nargeolet (left) and British businessman Hamish Harding (right) The boat had not been designed to carry passengers so it constantly pitched and rolled. Conditions inside were unpleasant too, with bunk beds and scratchy bedding.  It was also impossible to store the submersible on deck so it was towed behind on a platform, where it was repeatedly beaten by the choppy waves.  They were also headed right into a persistent heavy fog - which had meant that since the start of their 2023 expedition, OceanGate had not managed a dive below 10m.  The family had only two days onboard before the dive so were left with little time for nerves or apprehension.  Mrs Dawood, suffering a bad bout of seasickness, planned to see her family on the sub, before spending the rest of her time on the boat sleeping off her illness. Her husband and son wore jumpsuits similar to those worn by astronauts, bearing their names and the OceanGate logo.  They were joined by Rush, who was acting as pilot, British businessman Hamish Harding, and French diver and Titanic expert guide, Paul-Henri Nargeolet.  The latter, known as 'Mr Titanic', as the world's leading authority on the wreck, had already seen the ship some 37 times previously, five of which were on Titan.  The group even, in darkly comic jokes, discussed crashing - Mr Harding said he had never been on a helicopter because he thought they were too dangerous.  But when the time came to depart, the tone was light-hearted, with everyone laughing good-humouredly as a self-professedly clumsy Mr Dawood tried to board.  His son was even making jokes about his plans to take his Rubik's Cube on the sub, as he planned to achieve the world record for solving it at the deepest depth ever.  The family soon quickly said their goodbyes as father and son boarded the dinghy that would take them to the submersible.  Things began to go wrong at around 11am that day when Mrs Dawood was in the dining area of the boat, trying to ease her seasickness.  News came the ship had lost contact with the sub - but the crew reassured her it was nothing to worry about and it had happened before.  But despite their assurances the vessel would be back by 3pm as planned, there was still no sign of the submersible by 6.30pm.  Kyle Bingham, OceanGate's mission director, called an urgent meeting and declared the Titan was officially missing.  Mrs Dawood described how it felt to hear those words: 'It's like an avalanche. You see it coming. This is it, I'm going to be hit.  'But you're on a cliff, so where can you go? I had to make a conscious choice. I knew I couldn't let the emotions come. 'So, I grew wings, I flew away in my mind. That's how I saved myself from the avalanche.'  She began telling herself the sub was just stuck - but inevitably began to worry about her husband and son, who both felt uneasy in the dark, like that of the deep sea.  An OceanGate doctor gave her something to aid her seasickness and asked another of the tourists, who was set to join the next dive, to look out for her.  Mrs Dawood recalled walking around the ship in desperation for news - but worried about what she might overhear.  She remembered hearing hushed voices everywhere she went, which would stop whenever she was near. To her face, crew acted like nothing was happening.  But the mother did catch staff saying water could run out on the sub and the passengers could be forced to drink condensation off the walls through straws.  She did her best to banish such thoughts from her head and avoided reading the news, trying to remain hopeful.  But she knew, from the crew, the sub passengers could only survive four days at most before they ran out of oxygen.  A search and rescue operation by the US and Canadian Coast Guards began in earnest as media attention and public speculation increased.  But the truth was beginning to come out about OceanGate, as rumour spread saying Mr Rush had ignored previous warnings or dismissed safety as a waste of time. Meanwhile, on the Polar Prince, crew created a schedule of jamming sessions, movie nights and poker games to keep everyone occupied. Though Mrs Dawood attempted to watch films, she said it ultimately just felt jarring, given the ongoing search.  On June 22, the Horizon Arctic ship arrived at the scene with a remotely operated vehicle that could dive to the depth of the Titanic.  It was immediately deployed and reached the seabed 90 minutes later, transmitting footage to the US Coast Guard above, which had taken control of the rescue mission. At one point in the search and rescue operation, operators realised the sub must have collapsed inwards within a fraction of a second, killing all five men instantaneously. Pictured: Coastguard footage of the debris of the submersible  Operators soon spotted the twisted remnants of Titan's tail cone.  A coastguard officer soon made a grim announcement on the Polar Prince: 'Every indication at this point is that a catastrophic event has occurred with the Titan.'  It transpired the Titan's hull had failed nearly three hours into the dive - and imploded under the pressure of the deep ocean.  Mrs Dawood described the pain of leaving the Polar Prince after she found out the news, forced to consider what to do with her husband and son's bags onboard.  She ended up packing Mr Dawood's, but asked someone else to do her son's - though she eventually carried his backpack on to the plane.  The bag ended up becoming important for her mother-in-law, who just wanted to hug it all the way back to the UK.  Over the next 18 months, the US Coast Guard investigated Mr Rush and OceanGate - and all the firm's flaws eventually came to light.  Mrs Dawood was advised it would be too distressing to attend the public hearings and to this day, she remains cautious about what information she is exposed to.  The official report into the tragedy concluded it was preventable and caused by inadequate testing and engineering, along with Mr Rush's reckless approach.  If he survived, he would have faced criminal proceedings.  In the years since, Mrs Dawood said she has had days completely paralysed by panic attacks - and her husband's study and son's bedroom both remain untouched.  The family kitchen still contains a Lego model of the Titanic which her son dedicatedly spent almost two weeks building.   But the family did not receive their bodies for nine months, she said: 'Well, when I say bodies, I mean the slush that was left.   'They came in two small boxes, like shoeboxes.'  This 'slush', as she called it, was the remains recovered from the seabed which were separated and DNA tested by the US Coast Guard. In recent times, Mrs Dawood undertook a five-week walk from Hampton Court in Richmond, London, to the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.  Her son had been studying business there and she completed the journey in tribute to him.  She plans to set up a grief and trauma centre in her husband and son's memories.  No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. 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