Mom Hugs Son before He Dives in Sub to Fulfil His Dream on Ocean Floor, Unaware It Was Their Last Moment

• The devastated mother of the 19-year-old boy who was one of the passengers on the Titan submersible shared one last hug with her son and husband before the vessel embarked on the perilous journey.
• She never imagined this would be her last encounter with them.
• According to his mother, the young boy had agreed to accompany his dad because it was one of his lifelong dreams to break a Rubik’s cube world record at 3,700 meters below the sea.

In BBC breaking news, Christine Dawood, the mother and wife of Suleman, and Shahzada Dawood, respectively, has given her first interview of her account of the Titan submersible tragedy. The devastated mother opened up to BBC’s North American correspondent, Nomia Iqbal, about her final moments with her son and husband, how she felt, why they both wanted to pursue the dangerous expedition and how she and her remaining family members are currently coping.

In the interview, which is as anticipated as it is heartbreaking, Christine gives detail about the dire day that left everybody at a standstill. As she is still grappling and struggling to come to terms with the whirlwind of devastation, Suleman’s mom never fathomed that Sunday, June 18, would be the last day she got to see her son and husband.

The interview starts by asking a question Christine described as one she has built a love-and-hate relationship with: How are you? As someone who quite literally has had two of her most cherished loved ones ripped away from her, she expressed that she has been coping as best she can under the circumstances, but all in all, as to be expected, Christine is feeling anything but good.

After hearing the unfathomable statement from the overseers of the expedition: “we lost comm.,” Christine was beside herself. Taking a deep breath, she emphatically stated:

“So, the sentence, ‘We lost comm.,’ I think that would be a sentence I would never want to hear in my life again.”

Christine recalled how she and her 17-year-old daughter, Alina Dawood, had been sitting and chatting with other people on board the Polar Prince, the support vessel of the Titan submersible, when they caught wind of the bad news. She asserted that, at first, she did not know what this meant. However, shortly after the news broke, everything started to take a turn for the worse, and a long, dreaded waiting game began.

Initially, everyone was filled with the hope of their return to the ocean’s surface as Christine divulged how she was told that losing comms was an incident not uncommon on the expedition and that they were expected to make an emergence shortly. At the same time that she was anxiously awaiting the return of her son and husband, Christine was also experiencing seasickness.

At the end of the interview, Christine spoke about the ways in which she and Alina have vowed to honor the beautiful memories of their lost loved ones.

Taking a long pause before continuing to tell the story, Christine mentioned that she experienced a delayed shock reaction because she and all others awaiting the Titan’s return were so sure the vessel would reach the surface. She then says that it was only when the estimated 96 hours of oxygen supply had passed that panic and worry started to sink in.

Fueled by hope, which was the only thing keeping them going, the team onboard the Polar Prince started to come up with life-saving scenarios in which the members on board the Titan could free themselves and lift toward their ascent. However, after the 96-hour mark had come and gone, Christine revealed how that was the moment she sent communication to her family on shore:

“I am preparing for the worst.”

On the other hand, her daughter still maintained faith that her brother and father would safely return until the Coast Guard announced the discovery of debris associated with the vessel. According to Suleman’s mom, it was actually she and her husband who were set to make the voyage to the famous shipwreck.

However, Suleman had been consistently persistent in his declarations of wanting to go to the site, so Christine stepped aside and gave her son her space on the vessel. Another piece to the puzzle of the story of how Suleman ended up being the one to go with his father was the fact that it had been a lifelong dream of his to break the world record of solving the Rubik’s cube in a couple of seconds at 3,700 meters below the sea at the Titanic.

In the last moments before her son and husband went under, Christine recalled the family having a joyous time, how they had shared some jokes, hugs, and laughs together before the catastrophic implosion. Christine also spoke about how excited she was for them, as the journey was an adventure both looked forward to being a part of for a long time, with Shahzada even bringing a camera to try and capture the moment.

As reported by his wife, Shahzada was incredibly passionate and curious about exploring the world around him and had a childlike excitement about the trip to see the Titanic wreck. She describes her son as someone who was a practical intellectual who never went anywhere without his Rubik’s cube, which he taught himself how to solve in 12 seconds.

The following Saturday, after news of the discovery of debris linked to the Titan submersible broke, Christine returned to St John’s in Newfoundland with her daughter. The next day, a private funeral prayer was held to commemorate Suleman and Shahzada. When recounting the prayer ceremony, Christine disclosed:

“It was actually quite beautiful. The [man] who did the service was very inclusive; he said a prayer for all five of them, and I really, really appreciated that because, you know, everybody deserves prayer – I don’t think it should be separated by faith. We kept it private, so it was just the direct community.”

At the end of the interview, Christine spoke about the ways in which she and Alina have vowed to honor the beautiful memories of their lost loved ones. In honor of Suleman, they have both committed themselves to learn how to complete the puzzle of the Rubik’s cube and watch all his favorite movies. As for how they plan to honor Shahzada, Christine said the following:

“He started so many amazing projects… he helped so many people, and I think Alina and I really want to continue that legacy and give him that platform where his work is still continued, and it’s quite important for my daughter as well.”

Christine declined to give a comment about the continued investigations of the tragedy. However, the last thing she wanted to do was express how much she misses her son and husband, two passengers out of the five whose lives were lost.