Zahiyya Khalīl was a passenger on the Titanic.
Background[]
Zahiyya Elias was born in Hardīn, which is where the Ottomans had their say with the country of Lebanon, back then was under the rule of Syria. It was 1892 that she came into this world.
A young man from her town, Betros Khalīl, was infatuated by Zahiyya and she agreed to his advances.They worked out that they should go the USA together but her parents told them they should get bind by law first. Their wedding was only a few hours prior to leaving on their big journey in 1912, which would lead them to Northern France, where they would take passage on a liner to get to New York, from where they would travel further. Their destination would be the place where Betros’ brother Joseph Harry lived, in Wilkes-Barre, Philadelphia.
Titanic[]
It was the evening of April 10 when a huge ship would reach the harbor of Cherbourg. She couldn’t dock due to her size and the shallow waters around Cherbourg. As Third Class passengers, they were brought to the RMS Titanic on a small tender specially designed for her.
Onboard the ship, they celebrated the wedding with other Syrians. The party took place on the fatal night of April 14. That night, Titanic’s Maiden Voyage was in peril, when she was at speed and suddenly encountered an iceberg. The iceberg was massive and too close to steer around it in time. Titanic couldn’t be slowed down either. The result was a clash, and Titanic lost this fight, as the solid ice penetrated parts of her hull which led to small crevices. The openings where below the waterline. The sea could now find her way through the ship.
The party ran late and they kept on going even when the information of the collision came. On April 15, just after midnight, the evacuation was started. It was much later, that the pair went up to the Boat Deck.
Although Zahiyya was offered a spot in a lifeboat, she couldn’t bring herself to part ways with her husband. Bravely, she clang onto him and stick to her one love. Together, they perished along with many other souls that lost their lives when Titanic succumbed to the sea. At 2:20 A.M, many passengers ended up in the water when the ship foundered. The temperature was below zero degrees Celsius, which caused many to die from hypothermia. There was no body left to find of either Zahiyya or her man.