What remained of a father and son killed in the OceanGate submersible tragedy was returned to their mother and widow in “two small boxes”. Almost three years after the incident sparked international attention, Christine Dawood has revealed her 48-year-old husband Shahzada and 19-year-old son Suleman were reduced to “slush” in the catastrophic collapse that killed all five occupants.
Both men were aboard the OceanGate Titan as it ventured to the wreckage of the Titanic, about 600 kilometres off the Newfoundland coast in Canada, when contact was lost with the vessel. A wide-scale search effort was launched when the Titan failed to resurface, leading to the discovery of the wreckage. The vessel’s hull had caved in from the immense pressure of the deep sea.
Shahzada and Suleman were killed almost instantaneously, as was British businessman Hamish Harding, Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet and OceanGate founder Stockton Rush. Nine months after the tragedy and amid an investigation into what caused the Titan’s failure, Christine Dawood said Shahzada and Suleman’s “bodies” were returned to her.
“When I say bodies, I mean the slush that was left,” Dawood told The Guardian, adding: “They came in two small boxes, like shoeboxes. There wasn’t much they could find ... 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.”
Christine Dawood said the remains were ‘slush’ returned to her in small boxes. The mass of remains had been collected from the sea floor before being separated and DNA tested by the US Coast Guard — which was also investigating the incident. Dawood was initially supposed to join her husband on the Titan but the planned trip was cancelled due to the COVID pandemic. She later gave up her seat to her son for the fateful expedition because he “really wanted to go”, she told the BBC in the days following the tragedy.
Report identifies multiple failures
A 335-page report issued in August identified eight “primary causal factors” that led to the “preventable” yet fatal implosion. Authored by lead investigator Thomas Whalen and marine board chairman Jason Neubauer, the report said OceanGate had a “toxic workplace environment” and used the “looming threat of being fired” to prevent staff from coming forward with safety concerns. It added that analysis revealed a “disturbing pattern of misrepresentation and reckless disregard for safety”.
Design and testing criticised
The report criticised OceanGate’s design and testing processes and the continued use of the Titan submersible despite “a series of incidents that compromised the integrity of the hull and other critical components”. “By strategically creating and exploiting regulatory confusion and oversight challenges, OceanGate was ultimately able to operate Titan completely outside of the established deep-sea protocols, which had historically contributed to a strong safety record for commercial submersibles,” the report said. “The lack of both third-party oversight and experienced OceanGate employees on staff during their 2023 Titan operations allowed OceanGate’s chief executive officer to completely ignore vital inspections, data analyses, and preventative maintenance procedures, culminating in a catastrophic event.”
