Relatives of doomed Titan submarines were kept in the dark for days about the ship’s implosion as reports of “banging” gave them hope before the tragic truth came to light.
John Paschall, stepson of Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, said the French subpilot was “fearless” and a “warm burst of energy.”
Mr Paschall added that in recent days he feels he has been ‘living a nightmare’.
Speaking from his home in Minnesota, Mr Paschall told Sky News: “As you can probably imagine, I feel like I’ve been living in a nightmare. Just every day, every piece of info, you hang onto it — from sounds to other info and we were just so hopeful.
And I think that’s what carried us through the early stages and even into Thursday morning.
“We were just so hopeful that with the right equipment [getting] there they could find the Titan intact with them inside and they would still be here with us.”
John Paschall, stepson of Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, said the French subpilot was “fearless” and a “warm burst of energy”
Mr. Nargeolet was an experienced subpilot and had ventured onto the wreck several times before.
He served in the French Navy for 25 years, rising to the rank of commander before retiring.
Elsewhere, a woman who lost two family members in the Oceangate Titan disaster says she also had to wait “excruciatingly” for information.
Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his 19-year-old son Suleman were aboard the doomed submarine Titan when it imploded. Wreckage found yesterday suggests the tragedy occurred just hours after they entered the water on Sunday.
“It was very sad, but a huge relief to hear that Sunday was just… the end. They didn’t even know,” Azmeh Dawood, Shahzada’s sister, said.
“They just enjoyed it. That’s the best for them,” she told the Daily Mail today as she held back tears at her home in Amsterdam. “If you’re a parent and you’re thinking for Father’s Day, for something fun, I brought my son here…. At least he didn’t have to suffer with the guilt.’
“My brother is prone to panic attacks. I couldn’t stop thinking about that,” she added, saying she was “glad that Suleman didn’t have to live by watching his dad struggle or feel guilty.”
Azmeh Dawood, pictured outside her home in Amsterdam, said she was angry that her brother Shahzada took her cousin Suleman aboard the submarine Titan
Azmeh said her brother Shahzada (left) was prone to panic attacks and she was relieved that the end came soon for him and her cousin Suleman (right)
She discovered Monday evening that the men were missing. Mrs Dawood said: ‘The days of waiting to discover their fate were excruciating.
“You have to hope, but it’s a very grim hope, because when they’re alive, they weren’t having fun, they were suffering, they were scared, they were terrified, waiting, gasping for every breath.”
Mrs. Dawood is especially upset about the fate of her “sweet, precious” cousin Suleman, who followed his father’s dream. Suleman had no $250,000 or interest in the Titanic. An interest because his father loved it, but his interests were different.’
Mrs. Dawood was especially close to Suleman, as he was only five days younger than her own son. When they went to a water park in Dubai, people thought the boys were twins. Suleman had been estranged from most of her family for the past decade and was one of the few relatives to stay in touch, sending messages saying, “I miss you like crazy.” He last looked at his phone at eleven o’clock on Sunday morning, she says.
Dawood said the two men were “heroes.” “Shahazada was obsessed with the Titanic all his life and he has become a part of its history. He has fulfilled that dream. I wish it was Suleman’s choice if he wanted to be a legend,’ she said bitterly.
Commander Paul-Henry Nargeolet, an expert on the Titanic, also lost his life in the Titan tragedy
“If you want to go on an adventure at 48 and risk your life, you can choose that, but he was only 19 years old,” she said of her nephew.
“Obviously he thought it would be no problem to bring his son.” The disclaimer lists the probability of death 3 times on the first page, she added. “You do what you like, but if you’re talking about a child, you really should ask your child.”
Ms. Dawood says she is shocked that the company would take on such a young child. His age would have been on the papers. “You have to be 21 to have a drink in America,” she said. ‘He was 19, just started university. He is a trusting child whose father said it was okay. And his father trusted the company.’
Shahzada, Azmeh and two more siblings grew up in Pakistan watching the 1958 movie about the Titanic A Night to Remember.
“It was the only video tape we owned, we watched it almost every afternoon,” she says. The movie sparked an obsession with Titanic for her brother Shahzada.
Shahzada was up for high-risk travel and planned to travel to space, Dawood said of her billionaire brother.
“He was a conservative, gentle, level-headed, level-headed guy, but sometimes he did things that were great,” she says.
He had taken his whole family on a trip to Antarctica. While there, father and son took a deep dive. His parents were also going to go, but stopped when they discovered how strenuous it would be.
“Many people have paid for Shahzada’s adventurous spirit. The whole world has paid a price.’
Hamish Harding’s cousin Kathleen Cosnett wrote, “It’s rather poignant that tomorrow would have been his birthday. His father died in June and my father also died in June’
Oceangate CEO Stockton Rush led the expedition last Sunday, which is known to have resulted in the deaths of all five men on board
A relative of another man who died aboard the OceanGate Titan told the media how he would have celebrated his birthday tomorrow.
Billionaire Hamish Harding, who made his fortune buying and selling aircraft in the aviation industry, would have turned 59 on Saturday.
The tycoon made headlines this week when he was named as one of five men who each paid huge sums to board the submarine and visit the “Titanic graveyard” 16,000 feet below sea level.
Mr Harding’s cousin, Kathleen Cosnett, said at her home in Twyford, Berkshire: ‘The emergency response was definitely not fast enough – not at all. The hours lost before the alarm was raised came at a high price.
“It was handled so poorly, there should have been much better communication than there was,” she noted.
‘There is a big difference in your distress if you need immediate help. You wouldn’t want all the hours you have left on oxygen ticking by.
“Now that we know it probably imploded on the descent, this is really the best result. They wouldn’t have known it was coming.
In a way, it’s the best way to go because he didn’t know it was happening. It’s really the best way to go, isn’t it, get killed and know nothing about it?
“It’s quite distressing that tomorrow would have been his birthday. His father died in June and my father also died in June.
His family in particular will have a hard time. Hamish was a devoted father and his two sons, Giles and Roy, are currently taking the most important exams of their lives – the eldest is on A-Levels and the youngest is graduating.’
Kathleen described how Hamish grew up.
“As a boy he had blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes – and he’s always had a great sense of adventure.”
She said, “Adventure was very important to him. From an early age to about eight years old, he was this blonde-haired, blue-eyed baby. He was the real apple of his mother’s eye, and also as an only child.
“I last saw him around 2002, he took us on a private jet and he was the pilot. We started at a small airfield, quite small for a commercial aircraft, at Booker airfield near High Wycombe and flew over Silverstone and on into France.
“When my daughter was younger, she loved rollercoasters and adventure. Hamish flew her over to America and took her to Six Flags amusement park.”
Hamish, who studied chemical engineering at Cambridge University, was also one of five people to go into space on June 4, 2022 on the brand new suborbital Blue Origin NS-21 mission.
Kathleen said, “Adventure was very important to him. He was in the Guinness Book of Records for going into space – I don’t think he got the same record for this one.
“He was daring, he had a total fascination with this kind of thing. I wouldn’t want to go to the Titanic, it’s a graveyard, thousands of people died there.
“If you talk to his wife Linda, she’ll say he’s a daredevil too. The family flew there to be in Canada, in the same neighborhood as him.’
Ms Cosnett added that she had not been told of the tragic news and only learned of her cousin’s fate after listening to the television news.
She said, “I’m not as close to my family anymore. I saw everything happening on the news, I was not told anything by any official – certainly not by OceanGate. They would have talked more to his partner and kids I think.
“My daughter is still talking to her cousin Robert, who says they have now moved to Canada to be closer and in the same area of the incident.”
She explained that she didn’t mind hearing about what happened through news organizations, as the situation was an emergency and not everyone could be contacted. Though heartbroken that Hamish could not be saved, she added, “He died doing what he loved. That’s what his family said and we all agree on that.’