ISLAMABAD   -   A Titanic expert, an ad­venturer, a CEO, and UK-based Pakistani billion­aire Shahzada Dawood (48) and his son Suleman Dawood (19) are among the five who have lost their lives in the ‘Titanic’ submarine.

Shahzada and Suleman were on board the tiny underwater craft taking paying tour­ists to view the wreck 12,500ft underwa­ter when they stopped communicating in the Atlantic Ocean, 640km off the coast of New­foundland, Canada.

Shahzada Dawood is Vice Chairman En­gro Corporation Limit­ed and works with the Prince’s Trust Interna­tional and The British Asian Trust, set up by King Charles. Father-and-son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood are members of one of Pa­kistan’s most prom­inent families. He is Vice-Chairman of Engro Corporation Limited.

Their family said in a statement that they were both aboard the vessel.

Shahzada Dawood is also a mem­ber of the Global Advisory Board at the Prince’s Trust International, founded by Britain’s King Charles III to address youth unemploy­ment. He has degrees from the University of Buckingham in the United Kingdom and Philadelphia University (now Thomas Jefferson University) in the US.

Shahzada is vice chairman of one of Pakistan’s largest conglomer­ates, Engro Corporation, with in­vestments in fertilizers, vehicle manufacturing, energy and digi­tal technologies. According to the website of SETI, a California-based research institute of which he is a trustee, he lives in Britain with his wife and two children. Shahza­da’s interests include wildlife pho­tography, gardening and exploring natural habitats, while Suleman is a fan of science fiction literature, according to a statement from the Dawood Group.

Shahzada Dawood joined the Board of Engro in 2003 and cur­rently serves as the Vice Chairman. He has over 2 decades of experience in corporate governance and trans­formation of industries, including growth and innovation opportu­nities through mergers and acqui­sitions of diversified public-listed companies across textiles, fertiliz­ers, foods, and energy.

Shahzada is a leading voice for the institutionalization of key in­ternational networks, including the World Economic Forum (WEF). Under his guidance, Engro has be­come Pakistan’s first company to sign a commitment sponsored by WEF’s International Business Council to implement Stakehold­er Capitalism Metrics. Shahzada Dawood also joined WEF’s Global Plastic Action Partnership to pro­mote a circular economy. He as­pires for a sustainable future, and believes in inclusive business mod­els involving low-income commu­nities, building value chains along business interests. In line with this, Shahzada serves as Trustee on the Boards of both Engro Founda­tion and The Dawood Foundation. In December 2020, Shahzada also joined the Board of Trustees of the SETI Institute. He serves as Direc­tor across Boards of various com­panies within the Dawood Group, including Dawood Hercules Cor­poration Ltd and Dawood Lawr­encepur Ltd, instituting high stan­dards of corporate governance and perpetuating the future proofing of these businesses. Shahzada holds M.Sc degree in Global Textile Mar­keting from Philadelphia Univer­sity, USA, and a LLB from Bucking­ham University, UK.

Mr. Dawood is a scion of one of Pa­kistan’s wealthiest families, with a background in textiles and fertiliz­er manufacturing. Mr. Dawood and his son had “embarked on a jour­ney to visit the remnants of the Ti­tanic” when contact with the vessel was lost, the statement said, asking for prayers for their safe return and privacy for the family.

Mr. Dawood is also on the board of trustees for the Search for Ex­traterrestrial Intelligence Institute. The organization said on its web­site that he was a resident of Brit­ain, and a father of two children.

The sub, OceanGate, with Pa­kistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, his son Suleman Dawood and three others aboard, has suc­cessfully completed over 14 expe­ditions and over 200 dives in the Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf of Mexi­co,” its website says. “Following ev­ery mission, the team evaluates and updates the procedures as part as a continued commitment to evolve and ensure operational safety.”

Although popularly called a sub­marine, in marine terminology the “Titan” vessel carrying the five is a submersible. While a submarine can launch itself from a port in­dependently, a submersible goes down off a support ship.