A mom who lost both her husband and son onboard the Titan submersible has opened up about the moment that 'nearly broke' her a year on from the disaster.
A year ago today (18 June), an international manhunt was launched to track down the missing vessel which had plunged 12,400ft - more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon - under the North Atlantic Ocean during an expedition to view the wreck of the Titanic.
While experts still cannot say for certain what happened on board the submersible, it is understood that it imploded under the intense pressure when it reached a depth it could not withstand.
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Among the dead were British-Pakistani businessman 48-year-old Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman; British businessman Hamish Harding, aged 58; 77-year-old former French navy diver Paul-Henry Nargeolet; and 61-year-old American businessman Stockton Rush, whose company OceanGate ran the expedition.
Roughly an hour and 45 minutes into its two-and-a-half-hour descent, support ships lost contact with the Titan, at which point the US Coast Guard announced it had between 70 and 96 hours before it ran out of oxygen.
A rhythmic banging noise gave some people hope that they might simply be trapped underwater, but four days later the world heard how debris of the doomed sub was discovered.
Now, Christine Dawood, the wife of Shahzada and mom of Suleman, has commemorated the anniversary of the doomed sub's disappearance and posted pictures of two lit candles.
Writing on Facebook, she said: "When people pass, they take a piece of you with them.
"As the one-year anniversary is coming closer, I'm reflecting back on a time that nearly broke me, and yet the love and support I've received was, and still is, so huge that I can't feel anything but being grateful.
"I miss them every day, every hour, every minute, they will never be replaced," Christine continued.
"With these candles, I'd like to send their light to anyone who's open enough to receive it.
"I'd like to thank everyone for their love and prayers. I felt them and they helped.
"Light a candle for the missing people in your life and send their light into the world."
In an exclusive interview with the BBC, Christine shared how she had originally planned to go on the trip herself with her husband but after the Covid-19 pandemic hit their plans were scuppered.
When it was once again possible to make the trip, she said that she had instead let her son Suleman go with his dad as he had been keen to embark on the expedition.
Previously speaking of the awful moment she knew she had lost her husband and son, she said: "Alina and I went on deck. Until that moment we'd had hope.
"We took some cushions with us and just sat there looking out at the ocean. We were both crying.
"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.
"It's the waking up every morning that's . . . sometimes I still don't believe it.
"The possibility of it [Titan] imploding never crossed our minds. To lose a husband is terrible, but when you lose a child.
"I love being a mother. I have Alina, but I never wanted to be a single mother to an only child."
Topics: Titanic, World News, Titan submersible
Joe Yates