Teen Who Died In Titan Implosion Was 'Terrified' About Trip: Report

BOSTON, MA — The 19-year-old who died on the Titan submersible during a voyage to the Titanic wreckage was anxious about the trip but went anyway because he wanted to join his dad for the Father's Day weekend excursion, the teenager's aunt told NBC News Thursday.

Azmeh Dawood told NBC her teenage nephew Suleman Dawood admitted to a relative he was "terrified" about the trip and "wasn't very up for it." But he didn't want to disappoint his father, Shahzada Dawood, who was fascinated by the Titanic.

Azmeh Dawood is Shahzada Dawood's older sister.

So the pair, along with the CEO of OceanGate and vessel's pilot Stockton Rush, Hamish Harding, and French explorer and Titanic expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet, submerged in the vessel in the ocean off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada Sunday morning and soon disappeared.

SEE ALSO:

• Vessel Missing On Expedition To Titanic Wreck With 5 Aboard: Officials
• What To Know About OceanGate, Owner Of Lost Submersible
• Pilot Of Missing Submersible Is From Prominent CA Family

Days later, on Thursday morning, all five people onboard were declared dead after debris consistent with the vessel imploding was found on the ocean floor around 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic.

Shahzada Dawood was the vice chairman of Dawood Hercules Corp., a massive Pakistani business empire.

Azmeh Dawood told NBC her brother was "absolutely obsessed" with the Titanic and the pair would often watch the 1958 drama film "A Night to Remember."

"We are shocked and profoundly saddened by the death of Suleman Dawood and his father in this tragic incident," the principal of the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, where Suleman was a student, said in a statement.

"The entire Strathclyde community offers our deepest condolences to the Dawood family and all those affected by this terrible accident."

She explained he was eager to buy a ticket on the Titan excursion, which was OceanGate's third annual voyage to chronicle the deterioration of the Titanic. The ship struck an iceberg and sank in 1912, killing all but about 700 of the roughly 2,200 passengers and crew. Since the wreckage's discovery in 1985, it has been slowly succumbing to metal-eating bacteria.

OceanGate has attracted scrutiny and in 2018 drew concern from dozens of industry leaders, according to The New York Times.

In a letter to Rush, the Marine Technology Society said it was critical that the company submit its prototype to tests overseen by an expert third party before launching in order to safeguard passengers.

The letter expressed concern that the company's "experimental" approach could have minor or catastrophic negative outcomes.

David Lochridge, OceanGate's former director of marine operations, expressed concern that the craft’s passenger viewport was only certified for depths of up to 1,300 meters, while the Titanic sits at 4,000 meters.

OceanGate's choices would "subject passengers to potential extreme danger in an experimental submersible," said a counterclaim from Lochridge against the company — filed after the company took legal action against him.

Lochridge also had worries about OceanGate’s use of acoustic monitoring to detect flaws in the vessel.

“At some point, safety just is pure waste,” Rush told a CBS News podcast last year. “I mean, if you just want to be safe, don’t get out of bed. Don’t get in your car. Don’t do anything.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Anna Schier contributed reporting.