Engro Corporation Limited Vice Chairman Shahzada Dawood, who is said to be among the passengers on board the submarine that disappeared en route to the wreck of the Titanic, is seen with his son Suleman Dawood in this undated handout picture. Portal
Mother of teenager who died on Titanic sub says she should have gone there instead.
But Christine Dawood said she “stepped back” to let her 19-year-old son join the dive.
She said he had been looking forward to the dive for a “very long time,” contrary to previous remarks from his aunt.
The mother of Suleman Dawood, the 19-year-old who died with his father in the Titanic submarine, said she originally intended to accompany her husband on the ship’s fateful dive but let her son go instead.
Christine Dawood told the BBC on Sunday that she and her husband, British-Pakistani multi-millionaire Shahzada Dawood, originally booked places for themselves to view the wreck of the Titanic but their trip was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic .
She said that when the Dawoods embarked on this year’s mission, she “resigned” to instead give her teenage son a chance to visit the shipwreck “because he was dying to go,” according to the BBC.
“I was really happy for them because they’ve both wanted to do this for a long time,” she told the outlet.
Her family of four — including Christine Dawood’s 17-year-old daughter — were on board the submersible’s mother ship, the Polar Prince, on the day of the dive, she said.
Dawood said she and daughter Alina hugged and joked with her husband and son before the two men boarded the submersible called Titan on Father’s Day.
Her son loved solving Rubik’s Cubes and brought one with him on the dive, she said.
“He said, ‘I’m going to solve the Rubik’s Cube 12,000 feet under the sea on the Titanic,'” Dawood said.
She told the BBC that she and her daughter want to learn to solve the Rubik’s Cube in honor of their son.
“I miss her,” Dawood said. “I really miss her a lot.”
Dawood’s comments contrast with comments made Thursday by Suleman Dawood’s aunt, Azmeh Dawood, who told NBC News that the teenager was “terrified” while accompanying his father on the trip to the Titanic wreck.
The story goes on
The aunt, Shahzada Dawood’s older sister, said her nephew “wasn’t particularly ready” but embarked on the journey to impress his father.
She told NBC she lost touch with her brother after moving to Amsterdam from England a few years ago, although she still felt close to her nephew.
Shahzada and Suleman Dawood went missing along with two other passengers and a pilot on June 18 when Titan disappeared less than two hours after its dive to Titanic.
They were pronounced dead on Thursday after authorities found debris from the Titan on the seabed at a depth of about 13,000 feet. The U.S. Coast Guard said the submersible imploded in a “catastrophic loss of hyperbaric chamber.”
At such depths, a hull collapse would have killed all five passengers instantly.
The other three passengers on board were British billionaire Hamish Harding, former French Navy diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, and Stockton Rush, the CEO of the company that offers submersible tours.
Meanwhile, authorities are searching the Polar Prince to determine if a criminal investigation into the implosion is needed. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said on Saturday there was “no suspicion of criminal activity yet”, but did not rule out the possibility.
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