Most of us remember Jame Cameron’s movie when we hear the word “Titanic.” The movie is awesome, but the reality that it is based on it is a tragedy.
The “Unsinkable Ship,” the RMS Titanic, sank on April 15, 1912, in the North Atlantic Ocean after striking an iceberg. The shipwreck killed more than 1,500 people among 2,224 passengers and crew members.
More than 100 Lebanese people died, and 23 of them survived. They came from the following regions: Abreen, Beirut, Bekassine, Bint Jbeil, Hardeen, Hasbaya, Kfarmishky, Siríll, Tehoum, Tibnine, Tripoli, Zahle, and Zgharta.
People disagree on the exact number of Lebanese victims. Some say it’s 85; others argue that it’s 165.
The journalist and researcher Michel Karam stated in an interview that the Lebanese survivor Chaanine George Wehbe counted all the Lebanese aboard and said there were 165 Lebanese passengers.
The reason why the numbers decreased to 85 is that some names were not written correctly after the incident. For instance, Adele Najib Kiyame became Adele Jean Vajil.
Museum dedicated to the Lebanese victims of the Titanic shipwreck
The International Lebanese Titanic Committee (ILTC) aims to identify, commemorate, and pay tribute to the Lebanese aboard the Titanic.
In collaboration with the Lebanese Emigration Research Center (LERC) and Vestiges D’Orient, the ILTC inaugurated paintings that are dedicated to the Lebanese people aboard the Titanic into the Lebanese Migration Museum (LMM) at the Notre Dame University – Louaize.
The museum also houses a Titanic model ship and a commemorative plaque that features the names of the Lebanese people who died on board.
You can find the names of the Lebanese victims on ILTC’s website.
Lebanese version of My Heart Will Go On
Iyam El Lira created the Lebanese version of My Heart Will Go On, which is the theme song of Titanic the movie.
The band dedicates this piece to “all those who lost their lives on the Titanic, all those who lost their loved ones on that day, and all those who have lost and may still lose!”
Listen to it here!
