19-year-old Suleman Dawood, one of the passengers who tragically died in the Titan submersible, had a particular soft spot for Rubik's cube, according to his mother.
The Titan sub went missing less than two hours into its deep sea voyage on 18 June to see the Titanic wreckage, with five passengers on board - OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, French diver Paul Henry Nargeolet, British billionaire Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman.
Bur after days of extensive searches in the Atlantic Ocean, the US Coast Guard announced the submersible had likely ‘imploded’ and suffered a ‘catastrophic failure’.
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Suleman was said to not exactly be keen on embarking on the voyage, with aunt Azmeh Dawood claiming he went on the journey as a treat for Father’s Day, as his father was fascinated by the Titanic wreckage.
"His father wanted it and that was Sule all the way - he'd do anything for anyone," she told NBC News before her two family members were confirmed dead.
While Suleman may not have been too keen to board the submersible, in the end he was excited for the journey with his dad and had actually planned to beat a world record while on it.
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The teen applied to the Guinness World Records, with him bringing a camera to hopefully capture the moment he became a world record beater.
"He would not go anywhere without his Rubik’s Cube," his mom Christine Dawood told the BBC in her first TV interview since she lost her son and husband.
“He used to teach himself through YouTube how to solve the Rubik’s Cube, and he was really fast at it. I think his best was 12 seconds or something.”
Suleman’s mom continued: “He said, 'I’m going to solve the Rubik’s Cube 3,700 meters below sea at the Titanic’.”
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Christine and her daughter were on board the Polar Prince, Titan's support vessel, when the devastating news came through that all contact had been lost with the submersible.
"I didn't comprehend at that moment what it meant - and then it just went downhill from there," she said.
Christine added: "“By the time they were supposed to be up again, 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.
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"We had loads of hope, I think that was the only thing that got us through it because we were hoping and… 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."
Christine also revealed she had planned to go out with husband on the submersible to see the Titanic wreckage, but the Covid-19 pandemic put a halt to those plans.
Topics: Titanic, World News, News, Guinness World Records