Christine Dawood, who lost her husband Shahzada and 19-year-old son Suleman in the 2023 Titan submarine disaster, said it took nine months before their remains were returned to her. What she received, she said, was devastatingly minimal. “We didn’t get the bodies for nine months,” she told the Guardian. “Well, when I say bodies, I mean the slush that was left. They came in two small boxes, like shoeboxes.”
DNA testing and difficult choices
Investigators recovered the remains from the ocean floor and identified them through DNA testing, but they could only separate a small portion. “There wasn’t much they could find,” she said.
“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.” Shahzada and Suleman were among five people aboard the Titan submersible when it imploded in June 2023 during a dive to view the Titanic wreck in the North Atlantic. The vessel lost contact with its support ship about two hours after departure. Debris later found roughly 984 feet from the Titanic was consistent with what investigators described as a “catastrophic implosion.”
Christine said learning about the nature of the implosion brought her some comfort amid the grief. “My first thought was, thank God,” she said. “When they said catastrophic, I knew Shahzada and Suleman didn’t even know about it. One moment they were there and the next they weren’t.” “Knowing they didn’t suffer has been so important. They’re gone, but the way they went does somehow make it easier,” she added.
Coping with loss and letting go of ‘what ifs’
Christine said she has tried to process her loss with the help of advice she received from a Canadian Coast Guard member. “A very experienced woman with blond hair, I forget her name, gave me the best advice I’ve ever gotten: ‘Hindsight won’t help you, so don’t fall into that trap. Just because you know it now … you didn’t know it before’.” “I’ve always remembered her telling me that. Suleman wanted to go, and I was happy to give up the seat. I was happy for him to make memories with his father. I can’t change that.”