The mom of the teenage boy who died aboard the Titan submersible that imploded in the Atlantic Ocean last week has tragically revealed that she gave up her spot so that her son could go.
19-year-old Suleman Dawood was among the five passengers who died as the vessel attempted an expedition to explore the wreck of the famous Titanic ship. Dawood’s father, Shahzada, 48, was also onboard.
A huge search and rescue operation was launched after the Titan lost contact only one hour and 45 minutes into its dive on Sunday, June 18. Yet fears were confirmed when the US Coast Guard discovered a debris field on Thursday, leading to speculation that the vessel had imploded.
Suleman Dawood’s mother, Christine, has since told the BBC that the original trip to see the Titanic had been planned for before the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, Suleman was too young to go – a point he was said to be disappointed over.
Christine said: “It was supposed to be Shahzada and I going down. I stepped back and gave the place to Suleman because he really wanted to go.”
When asked how she felt about the decision to switch places with her son, she said: “Let’s just skip that.”
Christine added that “both of them were so excited”, while Suleman had taken a Rubik’s Cube with him as he was aiming to break a world record. The 19-year-old could reportedly solve a Rubix Cube in 12 seconds, and wanted to solve the puzzle 3,700m below sea beside the remains of the Titanic.
As per The Guardian, Christine and her 17-year-old daughter Alina joined Suleman and Shahzada onboard the Polar Prince, Titan’s support vessel. Christine and Alina were still onboard when word came through that Titan had lost contact with the surface.
She said: “We all thought they are just going to come up so that shock was delayed by about 10 hours or so. There was a time … when they were supposed to be up on the surface again and when that time passed, the real shock, not shock but the worry and the not so good feelings started.
“We had loads of hope, I think that was the only thing that got us through it … We talked about things that pilots can do like dropping weights, there were so many actions people on the sub can do in order to surface. We were constantly looking at the surface. There was so many things we would go through where we would think ‘it’s just slow right now, it’s slow right now’.”
The Dawood family returned to St John’s in Newfoundland, Canada, on Saturday, and held a funeral prayer for Shahzada and Suleman on Sunday.
Of her husband’s philanthropy, Christine added: “He was involved in so many things, he helped so many people and I think Alina and I really want to continue that legacy and give him that platform.
“Alina and I said we are going learn how to solve the Rubik’s Cube. That’s going to be a challenge for us because we are really bad at it but we are going to learn it.”
Our thoughts and prayers are with all those who lost family members on the Titan. May they rest in eternal peace.
Share this article if you’d also like to pay tribute.
READ MORE
- New grisly details about Titan submarine emerge – passengers “likely” knew hull was starting to crack
- James Cameron compares Titan sub disaster to Titanic sinking, says he ‘wouldn’t have gotten in that sub’
