Pakistan and UK offer condolences to families of Titan victims

British Foreign Secretary James wisely lamented the “sad news” of the explosion of the submersible Titanic carrying three British nationals, offering support and condolences to the families of the missing.

“Following an international search operation, sad news of the loss of people on board the submersible Titan, including three British nationals,” he said on Twitter.

“The UK Government is closely supporting the affected families and offers its deepest condolences,” he added.

Pakistan also expressed its condolences to the Dawood family, a father and a son among the five who died aboard the Titanic, which sank in the depths of the North Atlantic during its voyage to the wreck of the Titanic.

Shahjata Dawood and son Sulaiman of Pakistan were on board the Titan when it went missing on Sunday.

The Dawoods are one of Pakistan’s most prominent families, the Dawood Hercules Corporation, whose firm in Karachi is involved in agriculture, petrochemicals and telecommunications infrastructure.

“Our deepest condolences to the family of Dawood and the families of other passengers on the sad news of the fate of the sinking Titanic in the North Atlantic,” Pakistan’s foreign ministry tweeted.

“We appreciate the international efforts to search for the ship in recent days,” he added.

The US Coast Guard confirmed today that debris found at the wreckage of the Titanic matched the exterior of the submarine with the five occupants missing on Sunday, which suffered a “catastrophic explosion” with no survivors.

Coast Guard officials said at a news conference after notifying the crew’s families that the explosion would have occurred near the Titanic’s sinking site, where the submarine was headed.

“The wreckage is consistent with the catastrophic loss of a pressure chamber,” said Rear Admiral John Mager of the Coast Guard’s First District, offering condolences to the crew’s families.

OceanGate, the company that organized the trip, announced moments ago that all five people aboard the submersible Titan had died.