FO extends condolences to grieving Dawood family and other victims of Titan submersible accident
Shahzada Dawood and his young son, Suleman, were among the five passengers aboard the ill-fated vessel.
The foreign office of Pakistan has extended condolences to the grieving Dawood family and other victims of the Titan submersible accident.
The submersible, named Titan, with five people on board, went missing on early June 18, as it went on a 4000-meter journey below sea level to explore the Titanic wreckage in the North Atlantic Ocean.
The five people aboard a missing submersible died in a “catastrophic” event, a Coast Guard official confirmed in a statement on Thursday saying that ” the submersible Titan met catastrophic implosion near the Titanic wreckage.”
The five people onboard have been declared dead, including Pakistani-born business magnate Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his 19-year-old son, Suleman, both British citizens; the British billionaire and explorer Hamish Harding, 58; French oceanographer and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, who had visited the wreck dozens of times; and Stockton Rush, the American founder and chief executive of OceanGate, who was piloting the submersible.
Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, the spokesperson for the Foreign Office, in a Tweet on Friday expressed the nation’s sympathies for the aggrieved families.
“Our deepest condolences to the Dawood family and the family of other passengers on the sad news about the fate of the Titanic submersible,” she said.
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. We appreciate the multinational efforts over the last several days in search of the vessel.
— Spokesperson 🇵🇰 MoFA (@ForeignOfficePk) June 22, 2023
Shahzada Dawood, a 48-year-old British businessman hailing from one of Pakistan’s wealthiest families, was also an investor, and philanthropist.
With a background in fertilisers and involvement in organisations like the Dawood Foundation and the SETI Institute, Shahzada had an interest in exploring natural habitats.
He joined the Karachi-based Engro Corporation’s Board in 2003 and was currently serving as the Vice Chairman.
He was also an adviser to Prince’s Trust International, a charitable organization founded by King Charles III.
— Engro Corporation (@EngroCorp) June 22, 2023
Azmeh Dawood — the older sister of 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.
However, 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.
“I am thinking of Suleman, who is 19, in there, just perhaps gasping for breath … It’s been crippling, to be honest,” Azmeh said in a phone interview from the home in Amsterdam.
