Titan sub dad who died alongside son, 19, 'would never put family at risk'

A dad who died alongside his son in the OceanGate Expedition disaster "would not have put his family at risk," a family friend said today.

Shahzada Dawood, 48, and 19-year-old son Suleman lost their lives in the tragedy which authorities are now investigating off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

Richard Hawkes, a friend of Mr Dawood, said: "I know how much Shahzada loved his family.

"I can't imagine that Shahzada would have done anything that he thought possibly could have had the devastating consequences that we've seen this week."

Remotely operated vehicles have been searching for the doomed Titan vessel (Daily Mirror)

Royal Canadian Mounted Police confirmed they are looking into the circumstances of the passengers' deaths, reports BBC.

OceanGate said, on Thursday, all five passengers aboard the vessel are likely deceased despite a lengthy search.

The company's CEO Stockton Rush is among them, as are businessman Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henry Nargeolet, a 77-year-old former French navy diver and renowned explorer.

Dr Dale Molé, a former Navy doctor, has claimed that the final moments for the crew of the submarine would have been quick and painless.

He said: "It would have been so sudden, that they wouldn't even have known that there was a problem, or what happened to them.

"It's like being here one minute, and then the switch is turned off. You're alive one millisecond, and the next millisecond you're dead."

He explained that the crew would not have realised there was a problem or what was happening to them.

Stockton Rush was the CEO of the adventure company (CBS/Youtube)

The former Navy doctor added: "They would have been ripped to shreds.

"An implosion is when the wave of pressure is inward, whereas an explosion is when the pressure wave or the shock wave goes out from whatever the source of that is."

Titan, which was the vessel's name, suffered a "catastrophic implosion" less than two hours into its journey to see the wreckage of Titanic, it is believed.

Paul-Henry Nargeolet, a former French navy diver and renowned explorer, lost his life in the disaster (AFP via Getty Images)

Parts of the submersible were found on Thursday, approximately 1,600ft (487m) from the bow of the Titanic wreck. It had disappeared on Sunday.

It has since emerged daredevil documentary maker and ex-EastEnder Ross Kemp nearly made a TV show in which he would have explored the Titanic on an OceanGate submersible.

But the expert production company behind it quickly decided it was unsafe for anybody to go on the vessel after doing its own checks.