Titan sub-disaster victim Shahzada Dawood had no British will when he became trapped and died in the horrific underwater tragedy, his estate documents have revealed.
The Pakistani multi-millionaire, 48, and his 19-year-old son Suleman were two of five victims killed instantly when the OceanGate submarine suffered a ‘catastrophic implosion’ just 500 yards from the Titanic’s bow.
Because he died without a valid will, a grant of Letters of Administration was issued to the administrator of the estate, usually the legal spouse or nearest blood relative.
Mr Dawood’s £76,958 estate was awarded to his wife Christine, who still lives in their Surrey home.
The will further states that he lived in Pakistan, with most of his fortune appearing to remain outside Britain.
In addition to the father and son, three others died aboard Titan: OceanGate’s CEO Stockton Rush, 61, British businessman Hamish Harding, 58, and Paul-Henry Nargeolet, 77, a former French Navy diver and experienced Titanic diver.
Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman (pictured) died while diving in the North Atlantic to view the wreck of the Titanic, off the coast of Newfoundland, during which their submarine Titan lost communication with its support ship
After an hour and 45 minutes of diving in the North Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Newfoundland, the Titan lost communication with its support ship, the Polar Prince.
Mr Dawood’s estate of £76,958 was awarded to his wife Christine (pictured), who still lives in their Surrey home
The wreckage of the doomed ship was found 300 meters from the bow of the Titanic, some 3,700 meters below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean.
Mrs Dawood and her daughter Alina, who was 17 at the time, waited for the support ship as the search continued before receiving the heartbreaking news.
Last year she told The Mail: ‘The moment we knew they had found rubble and there were no survivors, Alina and I went on deck. Until that moment we had had hope. We took some pillows and just sat there looking at the ocean. We both cried.
“I turned to her and said, ‘I’m a widow now.’ She said, “Yes, and I’m a single child.” Then we cried some more.”
She added: “No parent should have to grieve for their child. It’s unnatural. Suddenly your purpose, your identity, is ripped away from you.”
Billionaire Shahzada was a trustee at the SETI Institute, a nonprofit research organization, and had also worked with the Prince’s Trust.
Suleman had taken his Rubik’s Cube with him on the trip because he hoped to break the world record for solving the puzzle at the greatest depth – which he was able to do in just 12 seconds.
He attended Strathclyde University in Glasgow, studying business analytics and human resources, and was planning to work with his father in the family business when they boarded the Polar Prince to visit the wreck of the Titanic in the Titan submarine .
Mother Christine is seen with her son Suleman when he was a toddler, two years old
Christine is seen with her husband before his tragic death last year during a trip to see the Titanic
Debris from the Titan submarine, recovered from the ocean floor near the wreck of the Titanic, is offloaded from the ship Horizon Arctic at the Canadian Coast Guard pier in St. John’s, Newfoundland
Safety issues included lighting and handles purchased from DIY stores and no international safety certificate
Mrs Dawood had planned to go with her husband to view the Titanic wreck in the OceanGate submarine, but their trip was canceled due to the Covid pandemic.
Suleman had become obsessed with the Titanic after completing a 10,000-piece Lego model as a teenager, and she stepped back to let it go in her place.
Mrs Dawood met her husband at the University of Reutlingen in her native Germany, where she said they were “kindred spirits”.
“We don’t have any graves for them,” she continued. “There were no bodies, but recently we (she, Alina and Shahzada’s younger sister, Sabrina) went to Singapore. The sea was warm enough to walk in and I could really feel it around me. I thought, ‘This is such a gift. I don’t need a grave because every time I’m in the ocean I can connect with them because they’re part of it.”
“We stood there with our skirts draped over our arms and cried for ten minutes. It was very, very cathartic. When I think about them now, they’re down there (in the ocean) sleeping.”
Disaster struck on June 18 last year when the 6-metre ship lost contact with its mother ship after diving into the wreck of the Titanic, off the coast of Newfoundland.
When the submarine was reported missing, rescuers brought ships, planes and other equipment to an area about 700 kilometers south of St. John’s, Newfoundland.
Officials later announced that they believed the Titan had imploded when it went to a depth of 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) and a debris field was discovered.
Billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding, who lost his life aboard Titan, is pictured looking out to sea before boarding the submarine
French Navy veteran Paul-Henri Nargeolet (left) Stockton Rush (right), CEO of the OceanGate Expedition, also died on Titan
Rescuers searched thousands of square kilometers of the remote North Atlantic Ocean for the missing submarine
Four months after the tragedy, in October, Coast Guard officials revealed that they had recovered human remains from the scene and that they had to be removed for analysis.
In December 2023, Christine posted another tribute to her husband and son. Here is an image of himself in the sea.
She said, “Every time I touch the ocean, I feel them because they are part of it now.
‘When the waves caress my skin, it is as if their whisper of love is around me. Six months later I still can’t believe it.
‘I may look desperate, but my heart is not. I feel gratitude for the people around me, who walk next to me, who catch me when I stumble and who make me laugh even when I feel like crying.
“It’s been the most challenging year I’ve ever known, and yet I’m still standing.
‘Watching with my eyes closed. I feel a bleeding heart moving with me as my root deepens, flying with my torn wings, listening with the wind in my hair, so that one day I can love again with all that I am.”