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Ilyās Dībū was a passenger on the Titanic.

Background[]

Ilyās Dibu was born into the family of John Dībū Antar and Mary Nader, inhabitants of Tripoli in Syria, where Ilyas came as their first son in 1883. Ilyas native town was later going to be to the new country of Lebanon, but for now, the Turks had the control. Ilyās had a sister, who was born around the same time, Bahiyah. Mary became pregnant with 3 more boys. Ilyās' first brother was William, born in 1888, then Edward saw daylight in 1890, followed by Richard in 1892.

One by one, those siblings left for America in the first ten years of the 20th century. Bahīyah was married and had her residence in Houston, texas. Ilyās’ mother was living in America as well. Ilyās became a teacher back in Syria. He remained unmarried.

On June 17, 1911, Mary Nader was killed when a blaze occured in her home. The death of his mother must have been confronting and spurred Ilyas on to get a move on and proceed to America in the Spring of 1912.

Titanic[]

Dibu found his way to Cherbourg where on April 10, a large steamer arrived from England. This was the RMS Titanic, a new and very impressive vessel, which was going to take on many more passengers here in Northern France. Switching home, the intention to go to Houston, Texas, Ilyās became a Third Class passenger of Titanic when a small tender took him to the large steamer.

On April 14 at night, Titanic hit an iceberg on her route towards New York. At first it looked like there was nothing in her way, but then the lookouts saw it. By then, Titanic carried too much speed to be stopped in time and she couldn’t be veered to port in time either. The starboard side of the ship scraped against the mass, which did a number on her hull. The few had hurt Titanic badly, as waster could now flow in at a quick rate.

Captain Smith and Thomas Andrews took notes of what had happened to their ship. For a while, they had to calculate, but on April 15, midnight, twinty minutes after the collision, they knew for sure:  Titanic was doomed. They called for the lifeboats to be readied, but there weren’t enough boats nor was there enough time. Less than a third of the passengers and crew were saved.

Ilyās also met his end at the sinking of Titanic, which occurred at 2:20 A.M. Where he was during the night or what he did, we cannot say. We only know that he was lost in this tragic disaster and that no body could be found later.