Christine Dawood, who lost both her husband and teenage son in the Titan submersible tragedy, has spoken out with sharp criticism of the decisions that led to the fatal mission.

The implosion of the Titan in June 2023, which killed all five aboard, including her family members, has intensified scrutiny of the deep-sea tourism industry’s safety practices and regulatory oversight, as the Daily Mail reports.

Dawood’s husband, 48-year-old Shahzada Dawood, and 19-year-old son, Suleman Dawood, were two of the five people killed when the submersible collapsed under immense pressure about four kilometers beneath the North Atlantic Ocean. They had paid $250,000 each to join what was intended to be a two-and-a-half-hour dive to the Titanic wreck site.

Also killed in the incident were OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, British aviation businessman Hamish Harding, and former French navy diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet. The submersible lost contact with the surface support vessel, the Polar Prince, roughly one hour and 45 minutes into the descent.

The U.S. Coast Guard later revealed that one of the last known messages sent from the Titanic to the support vessel read, “all good here,” but a sudden implosion occurred around 330 yards from the bow of the Titanic.

Warnings ignored despite known concerns

Christine Dawood says she is now haunted by the way her husband and son were drawn into the expedition. She cited the charisma and confidence displayed by Rush, which she initially mistook for engineering assurance. “I wanted to hear the confidence of the person who built it,” she stated, reflecting on how Rush surrounded himself with credentialed professionals.

Her comments come as investigations into the disaster have highlighted long-standing safety concerns. One of the earliest alarms was raised in 2018 or 2019 by David Lochridge, then OceanGate’s director of marine operations, who objected to the company’s decision to rely on acoustic monitoring rather than more rigorous scanning methods.

OceanGate dismissed Lochridge after he went public with his objections. Lochridge had pushed for testing that would look for tiny faults in the hull, warning that the methods used could identify flaws only milliseconds before failure.

Founder’s risk-taking attitude under fire

Stockton Rush, who co-founded OceanGate, had openly disapproved of traditional safety regulations, describing them at one point as “obscenely safe.” He also criticized critics who questioned his approach, saying some warnings were “personally insulting.”

An email exchange from 2019 further underscored the disregard for caution. Submersible pilot and designer Karl Stanley recalled warning Rush about strange cracking sounds during test dives. Although these reports concerned Stanley, he later testified that Rush dismissed the claims in pursuit of making history.

At a U.S. Coast Guard hearing in September 2024, Stanley claimed Rush “knew that eventually it was going to end like this.” According to Stanley, Rush prioritized legacy over safety and wasn’t concerned about accountability.

Grieving mother slams "egocentric” culture

In her public statements, Christine Dawood expressed dismay at what she described as a culture of personal ambition that overrode safety. “Why is ego and arrogance more important than safety?” she asked, adding that the irony of a Titanic-related accident caused by overconfidence was not lost on her.

The loss has devastated Dawood, who is now embarking on an 800-kilometer walk from Surrey to Glasgow in memory of her son. She said the experience and the details revealed so far in investigations have left her “horrified.”

In describing her perception of American business culture, Dawood remarked on what she viewed as an inflated sense of self-confidence by OceanGate’s leaders. “I guess the American way of talking and presenting themselves is very different from ours,” she said, describing it as overtly egocentric.

OceanGate halts operations

The Titan had been conducting missions to the Titanic wreck site since 2021 but was widely criticized for using nontraditional components, including a video game controller to operate the sub. The June 2023 tragedy resulted in OceanGate suspending all operations.

At the time of the disaster, Wendy Rush, the wife of Stockton Rush and a fellow OceanGate director, was onboard the Polar Prince. She reportedly heard a loud bang during descent, which investigators now believe was the instant of implosion.

A delayed message from the Titan later reached the surface vessel, indicating the release of two weights, which initially seemed like a routine procedure but now appears to have occurred just moments before the fatal collapse.

Calls mount for oversight, accountability

Dawood is now urging enhanced government regulation of the deep-sea tourism sector. She said the tragedy should mark a turning point for enforcing stricter compliance with safety standards in extreme underwater environments.

OceanGate has stated publicly that it is cooperating fully with inquiries led by the U.S. Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board. As of now, the company has no full-time employees.

Although the Titan mission was supposed to be a cutting-edge innovation in deep-sea travel, the events that unfolded revealed what some experts and family members now call a cautionary tale of ambition overriding risk.