Christine Dawood, who lost two family members in the Titan submersible implosion, said she was originally supposed to be on the fatal voyage but gave her seat to 19-year-old son Suleman.
Dawood told the BBC in an interview over the weekend that she and her husband, Shahzada Dawood, who also lost his life in the disaster, had originally planned to view the site of the Titanic shipwreck together, but that the trip was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Then I stepped back and gave the space to Suleman, because he really wanted to go,” Christine Dawood said.
She said her husband had long dreamed of seeing the wreck and had a “childlike excitement” about visiting the famed historical site. She said her son also had a reason for wanting to travel 12,500 feet into the depths of the North Atlantic: He wanted to break a Guinness World Record.
“He said, ‘I’m going to solve the Rubik’s Cube 3,700 meters below sea at the Titanic,’” Dawood said, recalling that the teen was a Rubik’s Cube enthusiast who could solve the puzzle in “12 seconds.”
“I was really happy for them, because both of them, they really wanted to do that for a very long time,” she said.
Dawood’s recollection contrasts with that of the teen’s aunt, Azmeh Dawood, who told NBC News that a “terrified” Suleman revealed to a relative that he “wasn’t very up” for the dive, but decided to do it for his dad on Father’s Day.
On June 18, the submersible Titan went missing while en route to the deep-sea wreckage of the Titanic. The vessel, operated by the private, Washington state-based company OceanGate, was carrying five people, including a small crew and passengers who paid up to $250,000 apiece.
On Thursday, the U.S. Coast Guard said that a remote-operated vehicle discovered a debris field in the search area. Five major pieces of debris were eventually spotted, signaling to authorities that a “catastrophic pressure implosion” likely killed all five people aboard the Titan.
Christine Dawood, who was with her daughter aboard the submersible’s support vessel the Polar Prince, told the BBC that she began “preparing for the worst” before the Coast Guard notified her about the debris.
“When we passed the 96-hours mark — that’s when I lost hope,” Dawood said. She said her daughter was still optimistic, however.
“She didn’t lose hope until the call with the Coast Guard,” Dawood said.