The Pakistani tycoon who boarded a Titanic-bound submersible that went missing on Sunday had previously endured a flight so horrific that it had him fearing for his life, his wife revealed in a harrowing account of the incident five years ago.
Prominent businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, vanished into the Atlantic abyss with his 19-year-old son, Suleman, and three other passengers who boarded the submersible for a tour of the RMS Titanic’s wreckage this weekend.
The underwater expedition, which was organized by OceanGate Expeditions, went south only an hour and 45 minutes into the mission, when the submersible’s support ship lost all contact with the vessel.
ADVERTISEMENT
Despite relentless rescue efforts and some signs of life reported near the area where the sub first disappeared, the limited supply of oxygen on the vessel—which has not been heard in the three days since it was lost—has some fearing the worst for the five souls aboard.
But years before Shahzada disappeared off the coast of Newfoundland, the Dawood family was apparently grappling with another nightmare—one that was unfolding in the skies.
In a blog post on a website for her coaching business, Shahzada’s wife, Christine, recalled surviving a nightmarish flight alongside her husband that left her frozen with “absolute terror,” describing it as the incident that “changed everything” in her life—for good.
“I should have known when they canceled our flight and put us on the next one. We should have taken the sign, gone back home and had a long and generous breakfast. But we didn’t,” she said in the post, dated Jan. 22, 2019.
Christine then goes on to describe a hellish account of the plane taking a “deep plunge” that had passengers letting out “... one simultaneous cry, which turned to a whimper and then silence.”
In her account, that was the first of multiple violent plunges that left her feeling “like a grain in a big bag of sand, or a boxer being soundly defeated—punched from all directions.”
“I clutched my armrests, as if that would make a difference,” she added. “I needed something to hold on to, something stable in a shaky metal tube thousands of feet above the ground.”
‘Until death do...’
The ordeal was so horrific that her husband, Shahzada—despite being a well-seasoned traveler and adventurer, as indicated in his social media posts—was contemplating his own demise during the flight, she said.
“I’ve read many times that people start to pray in such situations or that their life flashes by like a movie. My husband told me later that he was thinking of all the opportunities he’d missed and how much he still wanted to teach our children,” she said.
Christine went on to recount several more violent drops of the aircraft that left passengers crying, praying, and cursing. “I was frightened like never before in my life. I wasn’t even able to wipe away the tears running down my face or move my head to look around,” she said.
Then, a “moment of stillness” with her husband.
“As the plane turned, my side lifted forcing me to look down to my left. My husband faced me, our eyes locked and our hands interlinked. No words were needed. He was as scared as I was and yet we were together. ‘Until death do...’ No, don’t go there!”
Ultimately, according to the account, the plane landed safely. But the experience left Christine feeling “as if a noose was tightly” wrapped around her neck. “The personal, uncomfortable and overwhelming” ordeal inspired her to make a big career pivot into psychology and coaching, she said, along with other life changes.
Although it’s not clear in the post when the plane incident took place—Christine did not immediately respond to a comment request from The Daily Beast—news that the family was hit with another terrifying ordeal was confirmed this week, when the family confirmed that Shahzada and his teenage son were on the Titan submersible.
Although based in London, the Dawood family—including Shahzada, Christine, and their two children, Suleman and Alina—was reportedly spending time in Canada in the weeks leading up to the submersible tour. Besides being an avid traveler, Shahzada is the vice chairman of Engro Corporation, a major Pakistani conglomerate. His son, Suleman, had just finished his first year at Strathclyde Business School in Glasgow, Scotland.
“The family is well looked after,” the Dawood family said in a statement to the Associated Press, adding that they are “praying to Allah for the safe return of their family members.”
