Multi-millionaire who died in Titan sub disaster left his wife almost NOTHING – despite being heir to £1.3bn company
A MULTI-millionaire who died in the Titan sub tragedy left his wife almost nothing despite being the heir to a £1.3billion company.
Shahzada Dawood, 48, was one of five tragic passengers on board OceanGate Expeditions’ Titanic submarine, along with his son Suleman, 19.
Pakistani tycoon Shahzada was married to, and shared two children with, Christine Dawood who works as a coach and a psychologist.
He had an estimated net worth of around £285million and was heir to the famous Dawood business dynasty making him one of the wealthiest families in Pakistan.
Meanwhile his family-run company boasts an annual turnover of around £1.3billion.
But, his widow is set to inherit next to nothing after the tragic disaster off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, on June 18, 2023.
It has been revealed Shahzada died without a valid UK will, which means he passed down less than £100,000, as reported by the MailOnline.
The business mogul was the Vice Chairman of Dawood Hercules Corporation, a public investment holding company.
The organization has been under the Dawood family for decades with Shahzada joining in 1996.
Hercules Corp has invested in solutions regarding infrastructure, foods, agriculture, and petrochemicals.
Shahzada was also the shareholder director of the Engro Corporation and a board member of King Charles III’s Prince’s Trust charity.
As a trustee of The Dawood Foundation, Shahzada supported several education initiatives.
But, as the tycoon died without a valid will, a Grant of Letters of Administration was issued to the administrator of the estate.
His £76,958 UK estate was left to wife Christine, who continues to live in their Surrey home.
The Grant of Letters of Administration also notes that Shahzada was domiciled in Pakistan, with most of his fortune tied up overseas.
Christine told The Mail last year: “The moment we knew they’d found debris and there were no survivors, Alina and I went on deck.
“I turned to her and said: ‘I’m a widow now.’ She said: ‘Yes, and I’m a single child.’ Then we cried even more.
“No parent should have to grieve for their child. It’s unnatural. All of a sudden your purpose, your identity, is ripped away from you.”
The heartbroken mother and daughter travelled to Singapore to say their goodbyes by the ocean, which Christine called “a gift”.
“The sea was warm enough for us to walk in and I truly felt them around me. It was very, very cathartic,” she added.
Her late son Suleman, 19, was born in 2004, in Karachi, Pakistan.
He was brought up in Karachi and London, England, and was studying business at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland before his death.
Principal Professor Sir Jim McDonald issued a statement saying the university was “shocked and profoundly saddened” by the death of Suleman and his father.
Shahzada’s sister Azmeh Dawood said her nephew “wasn’t very up for” the trip and felt “terrified” but added he had felt compelled to please his dad.
Suleman was actually never supposed to be on the sub, as his mother originally held the space.
But she let the teenager take her place because he was fascinated with the Titanic after completing a 10,000 piece Lego model.
How the Titan tragedy unfolded
by Katie Davis, Chief Foreign Reporter (Digital)
FIVE men plunged beneath the surface of the North Atlantic in a homemade sub in a bid to explore the Titanic wreckage.
Four passengers paid £195,000 each to go on the sub, with the fifth member of the trip being a crew member.
But what was supposed to be a short trip spiralled into days of agony as the doomed Titan vanished without a trace on June 18, 2023.
The daring mission had been months in the making – and almost didn’t happen at the hands of harsh weather conditions in Newfoundland, Canada.
In a now chilling Facebook post, passenger Hamish Harding wrote: “Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023.
“A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow.”
It would be his final Facebook post.
The following morning, he and four others – led by Stockton Rush – began the 12,5000ft descent towards the bottom of the Atlantic.
But as it made its way down into the depths, the vessel lost all contact with its mother ship on the surface, the Polar Prince.
It sparked a frantic four-day search for signs of life, with the hunt gripping the entire world.
There was hope that by some miracle, the crew was alive and desperately waiting to be saved.
But that sparked fears rescue teams faced a race against time as the passengers only had a 96-hour oxygen supply when they set out, which would be quickly dwindling.
Then, when audio of banging sounds was detected under the water, it inspired hope that the victims were trapped and signalling to be rescued.
It heartbreakingly turned out that the banging noises were likely either ocean noises or from other search ships, the US Navy determined.
Countries around the world deployed their resources to aid the search, and within days the Odysseus remote-operated vehicle (ROV) was sent down to where the ghostly wreck of the Titanic sits.
The plan was for the ROV to hook onto the sub and bring it up 10,000ft, where it would meet another ROV before heading to the surface.
But any hopes of a phenomenal rescue were dashed when Odysseus came across a piece of debris from the sub around 1,600ft from the Titanic.
The rescue mission tragically turned into a salvage task, and the heartbroken families of those on board were told the devastating news.
It was confirmed by the US Coast Guard that the sub had suffered a “catastrophic implosion”.
He had heartbreakingly taken his Rubik’s Cube with him, which he could solve in 12 seconds, as he hoped to break the world record for solving the puzzle at the greatest depth.
Shazada and his son Suleman were two of five passengers aboard the doomed sub.
All five on board – including OceanGate’s founder Stockton Rush, Brit billionaire Hamish Harding, 58, and French Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77 all died.
Rescuers hurried ships, aircraft, and other equipment to an area about 435 miles (700 kilometres) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland, when the submersible was reported overdue.
Titan’s wreckage was then discovered on June 22, approximately 330 yards (300 meters) off the Titanic’s bow, according to Coast Guard officers.]
Operator OceanGate said the five “true explorers” were “sadly lost”.
The sub imploded just metres away from the Titanic killing the five crew in “milliseconds”.
Rear Admiral John Mauger, of the US Coast Guard, said the debris was “consistent with a catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber”.
As part of the investigation into the tragedy, chilling new footage of a deep-sea salvage mission to recover the wreckage of the lost Titan submersible was made public.
The disaster went to spark a global discussion concerning the future of private undersea exploration.