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  "path": "/news/oceangate-titan-victims-bodies-grieving-families-slush-shoeboxes",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-29T01:24:28.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.gbnews.com",
  "tags": [
    "19-year-old son Suleman",
    "catastrophically imploded",
    "Stockton Rush",
    "Titan submarine was lost",
    "Chilling last words from Titan crew after pilot refused to enter doomed submersible",
    "TV reporter describes moment he ‘almost died’ in submarine that got stuck in Titanic ruins",
    "Titanic director James Cameron in talks to create Titan submarine disaster drama series",
    "The GB News Editorial Charter"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\nThe victims of the OceanGate Titan submarine tragedy have had their remains returned to their grieving families as \"slush\" in \"shoeboxes\".\n\nChristine Dawood's husband Shahzada and 19-year-old son Suleman were killed alongside three other men in the Titan submersible as they attempted to view the wreckage of the Titanic in 2023.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nMrs Dawood has now revealed it took nine months after it was confirmed the submersible had catastrophically imploded for her loved ones' bodies to be returned.\n\nShe told The Guardian: \"We didn’t get the bodies for nine months.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nTRENDING\n\nStories\n\nVideos\n\nYour Say\n\n\"Well, when I say bodies, I mean the slush that was left. They came in two small boxes, like shoeboxes.\"\n\nThe remains, recovered from the seabed, were meticulously separated and DNA tested by the US Coast Guard in order to confirm their identities.\n\nShe added: \"There wasn’t much they could find. They have a big pile they can’t separate, all mixed DNA, and they asked if I wanted some of that, too.\n\n\"But I said no, just what you know is Suleman and Shahzada.\"\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nMrs Dawood, who was originally supposed to be on the submersible before giving up her place to her son, has now written a book detailing her experience and grief, three years after the tragedy.\n\nStockton Rush, the pilot of the Titan submarine, founded OceanGate in 2009 with a mission to \"democratise\" the deep.\n\nIn 2025, a US Coast Guard found that Mr Rush \"exhibited negligence\" which resulted in the deaths of the four other men, and may have been held criminally liable.\n\nSpeaking to GB News days after contact with the Titan submarine was lost, OceanGate co-founder Guillermo Sohnlein claimed Mr Rush was \"one of the most intelligent people\" and \"very risk averse\".\n\n### TITAN SUBMERSIBLE DISASTER - READ MORE:\n\n\n\n\n  * Chilling last words from Titan crew after pilot refused to enter doomed submersible\n  * TV reporter describes moment he ‘almost died’ in submarine that got stuck in Titanic ruins\n  * Titanic director James Cameron in talks to create Titan submarine disaster drama series\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nMr Sohnlein, who left the company he co-founded in 2013, gave evidence at a US Coast Guard hearing on 23 September 2024, admitted he had never been on an OceanGate dive and had \"no intention of creating our own subs\" when the company was founded.\n\nMrs Dawood, whose husband comes from one of the wealthiest families in Pakistan, said tickets for the trip cost $500,000, or the \"money I'd expect a house for\".\n\nMr Rush and his wife, Wendy, met with Mrs Dawood and her husband in February 2023 in London to reassure the trip would be worth \"every cent\".\n\nThe OceanGate chief executive spoke of the innovative nature of the carbon fibre-hulled and cyndrically-shaped submarine - design decisions which went against the conventional high-strength steel sphere of most submarines - and the strange ocean creatures they would see, Mrs Dawood said.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nShe said Mr Rush's wife, Wendy, was \"very quiet\", adding that when the conversation turned to the subject of communication between the submarine and the ship, Mr Rush would admit: \"Yeah, sometimes we lose contact\".\n\nMrs Dawood added: \"I think she saw the risks; she saw the potential that there was something not quite right. He just ignored her.\"\n\nBillionaire Briton Hamish Harding and 77-year-old French explorer and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet also tragically died on the submarine.\n\nThe family of Mr Nargeolet are currently suing OceanGate, who suspended operations in 2023, and the estate of Mr Rush, for over $50million in the state of Washington for gross negligence and wrongful death.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n**Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter**",
  "title": "OceanGate Titan victims' bodies returned to grieving families as 'slush in shoeboxes'"
}