The Pakistani father and son aboard the Titan submersible that was lost at sea in June made the journey in darkness and had no idea how safe or unsafe the journey would be, new claims have revealed.
Christine Dawood, whose husband Shehzada and son Suleman were onboard the Titan, recently said in an interview with the New York Times that she had initially came across Ocean Gate’s exploring opportunity in 2019 and had initially planned to go with her husband. The family had been fascinated with the Titanic since seeing an exhibition in 2012.
However, when the time came for the actual journey, it was her 19-year-old son who went to see the Titanic with his father instead of her.
Christine waited with her daughter aboard a support vessel as the father and son left and waited with her breath held as contact was lost. She then looked out to the sea as the search began, hoping to see them coming above the water.
She also revealed that the journey involved a travel time of two and a half hours on each side for the 3,800 metre distance. The passengers would also tour the Titanic;s wreckage for four hours.
However, she revealed for the first time that the submersible travelled at only 25 metres per minute, which roughly amounts to 1.6 km per hour.
The journey was actually so slow that the Titan’s motion could not be felt inside by the passengers.
Furhtermore, Stockton Rush, who owned the company operating the submersible had kept the lights off in the Titan to save energy. So the slow descent was made in darkness. However, they did play music through a bluetooth speaker.
But Christine’s most surprising claim was that her husband had no idea how safe or unsafe the Titan was for a deep sea dive despite paying $250,000 for it.
“That engineering side, we just had no idea,” she revealed in the interview. She added that the journey was like travelling on an airplane usually was - without having to know how the engine works.
The submersible is said to have imploded, killing all five passengers on board immediately.
