The grieving mum of a Glasgow student killed on board the Titan submersible has revealed she gave her ticket away to her son.
Strathclyde University student, Suleman Dawood, 19, died on board the submersible after it imploded underwater while diving down towards the wreckage of the Titanic. He was killed alongside his dad Shahzada, 48, and three other crew members.
Christine Dawood and her daughter were on board the Polar Prince, the sub's support vessel, when word came through that communications with the Titan had been lost. Mrs Dawood has now shared that she had planned to go with her husband to view the wreck of the Titanic, but their trip was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic.
When the family rescheduled, Suleman had then turned 18 and was permitted to make the journey. Knowing how desperate he had been to go previously, Christine gave her seat to her son.
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Speaking to the BBC, Mrs Dawood said: "I was really happy for them because both of them, they really wanted to do that for a very long time. We were supposed to go down before Covid but Suleman wouldn't have been able to go.
"He was so disappointed because they only allowed [ages] 18 plus. So it was supposed to be Shahzada and I going down then I stepped back and gave them space to set [Suleman] up, because he really wanted to go." Asked how she felt about that, Mrs Dawood paused before adding: "Let's just skip that."
Mrs Dawood also revealed that her son was a Rubik's cube whizz and could solve the puzzle in 12 seconds. He even took one down with him on the Titan in a bid to break the world record.
She said they hugged and made jokes in the moments before her husband and son boarded the submersible. The heartbroken mother said she and her daughter stayed on board the Polar Prince as the search and rescue mission shifted from hopeful to desperate.
Mrs Dawood says that she they lost hope when they passed the 96 hours mark as she told family that they were preparing for the worst. The family returned to St John's on Saturday, and on Sunday held a funeral prayer for Shahzada and Suleman.
Mrs Dawood declined to discuss the ongoing investigations into the tragedy - but when asked how she and her daughter would find closure she said: "Is there such a thing? I don't know."
She added: "I miss them. I really, really miss them."
