Pakistani businessman's son takes his mother's place on Titan submersible

Christine Dawood was supposed to accompany her husband on the ill-fated Titanic diving expedition, but gave her place to her son Suleman.

Suleman Dawood, 19, and his father, businessman Shahzada, 48, were among five people who died on the submersible Titan during an expedition to the Titanic wreck in the Atlantic Ocean on June 18. They belong to one of Pakistan's richest families, which has given a lot of money to the government .

Shahzada’s wife, Christine, said on June 26 that she was supposed to accompany her husband on the fateful expedition, but she gave it up to their son. The dive was planned before Covid-19 and Suleman was disappointed because he was not old enough to go with his parents.

"In the original plan, Shahzada and I were to dive in," she said. "I let Suleman go because he really wanted to go."

Suleman (left) and his father, British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada. Photo: AP — Suleman (left) and his father, British-Pakistani dual nationality businessman Shahzada. Photo: AP

Christine refused to answer questions about how she felt about her decision. She said that "both of us are extremely excited", Suleman even brought the Rubik's Cube with him because he wanted to set a world record. She said her son loves solving Rubik's Cubes and carries the toy with him everywhere. He can solve a Rubik's Cube in 12 seconds.

"He said, 'I'm going to solve a Rubik's Cube 3,700 meters below the seabed, next to the Titanic wreck,'" Christine said.

The information she gave contradicts the statement of Azmeh Dawood, Mr. Shahzada's sister. Ms. Azmeh said Suleman was "very scared and not very happy" when he learned that his father planned to invite him to explore the ocean on the Titan. He confided this to a family member, but still decided to follow his father, who had always wanted to see the Titanic.

The Dawood family boarded the Polar Prince, the ship transporting the Titan submersible to the Atlantic, on Father's Day, hoping to celebrate the day with the trip of a lifetime.

Christine and Shahzada. Photo: StatesMan — Christine and Shahzada. Photo: *StatesMan*

Christine and her daughter Alina, 17, were on board the Polar Prince when the Titan submersible lost contact with its mothership.

"We thought they were going to surface. After 10 hours, we started to get scared," she said. "We had a lot of hope. Hope is what got us through the waiting time. We talked about what the captain could do to lighten the boat, what we could do to make it float."

"We kept looking at the water. We went through so many emotions, just saying to ourselves, 'It'll come up, it'll come up,'" she said.

They lost hope after 96 hours, enough oxygen for five survivors, had elapsed. That’s when she texted her family saying she was “preparing for the worst,” until the US Coast Guard announced they had found the wreckage.

How the Titan submarine disappeared. Click on the image to see details — How the Titan submarine disappeared. *Click on the image to see details*

The family returned to St John in Newfoundland, Canada, on June 24 and held a prayer service for Shahzada and Suleman the following day. Christine said she and her daughter would learn to solve Rubik’s cubes in memory of Suleman. She will take over her husband’s work.

"He did so much, helped so many people. Alina and I really wanted to continue that legacy, to keep his work going and to build a foundation for my daughter," she said.

"Alina and I are going to learn how to solve a Rubik's Cube. It's a challenge because we don't know how to solve it, but we're going to learn."

Hong Hanh (According to SCMP )

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