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Suleman Dawood, the teenager who was killed onboard the Titan submersible when it imploded deep underwater, was "terrified" before embarking on the trip to view the wreckage of the Titanic, his aunt has claimed.
Dawood, 19, was on the Titan with his father, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, and three other people when it suffered a "catastrophic implosion".
It has now emerged that the university student was having second thoughts about the mission in the days leading up to the doomed OceanGate voyage.
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Azmeh Dawood, Shahzada's sister, said to America's NBC News that Suleman told a relative that he "wasn't very up for it" and felt "terrified" before the deep-sea expedition.
"I am thinking of Suleman, who is 19, in there, just perhaps gasping for breath," Azmeh said.
"It's been crippling, to be honest."
Alongside Suleman and Shahzada Dawood on the submersible were British adventurer and billionaire Hamish Harding, Titanic expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet, and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush.
OceanGate, the company that owned the Titan, has come under increasing scrutiny for its approach to safety.
In 2018, a group of ocean engineers and technologists wrote to the company expressing concerns about the small vessel's design and potential "catastrophic" outcomes.
READ MORE: 'True explorers' mourned after undersea wreckage found
Mike Reiss, a writer who rode the submersible last year, said he had to sign an extensive waiver beforehand that outlined all the ways he could be killed.
"Before I boarded the sub, I signed a lengthy waiver detailing all the ways this trip could kill me: asphyxiation, electrocution, drowning, crushing — death was mentioned three times on the first page," he wrote.
"I kissed my wife goodbye before I left, thinking I might never see her again.
"In short, disaster was part of the package.
"This wasn't a rollercoaster ride that merely seemed scary but was actually pretty safe. The danger involved was real."
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One of Shahzada Dawood's friends said the prominent businessman may not have understood the danger associated with the mission, saying he wasn't a risk-taker.
"I think he looked at this as an extraordinary adventure," SETI Institute CEO Bill Diamond told Today.
"I'm sure he saw this as an extraordinary thing to share with his son, and I'm also sure that he would not have taken his son on board if he thought there was really, you know, a serious level of danger."
The Dawoods are members of one of Pakistan's most prominent families and their firm, Dawood Hercules Corp, based in Karachi, is involved in agriculture, petrochemicals and telecommunication infrastructure.
Shahzada was also on the board of trustees for the California-based SETI Institute that searches for extraterrestrial intelligence.
– Reported with CNN
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