The heartbroken mother of a Glasgow student who died on board the Titanic submersible with his dad says the teenager took his Rubik's Cube with him because he wanted to break a world record. Suleman Dawood, 19, applied to Guinness World Records and his father, Shahzada, who also died, had brought a camera to capture the moment.
The pair perished on the vessel alongside three other crew members after the sub imploded underwater. Christine Dawood and her daughter were on board the Polar Prince, the submersible's support vessel, when word came through that communications with the Titan had been lost.
Mrs Dawood said they hugged and made jokes in the moments before her husband and son boarded the Titan submersible. She said the Strathclyde University student loved the Rubik's Cube so much that he carried it with him everywhere, dazzling onlookers by solving the complex puzzle in 12 seconds.
Speaking to the BBC, Mrs Dawood said: "Suleman did not go anywhere without his Rukik's Cube. He said I'm going to solve the Rubik's Cube at 3,700 meters below sea at the Titanic and he was so excited about this."
Mrs Dawood and her daughter stayed on board the Polar Prince as the search and rescue mission shifted from hopeful to desperate. Mrs Dawood said: "I stepped back and gave them space to set [Suleman] up, because he really wanted to go. I was really happy for them because both of them, they really wanted to do that for a very long time."
The heartbroken mother now says she and her daughter will try to learn to finish the Rubik's Cube in Suleman's honour, and she intends to continue her husband's work. She added: "He was involved in so many things, he helped so many people and I think I really want to continue that legacy and give him that platform... it's quite important for my daughter as well."
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."
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