Teen who died on Titanic sub hoped to set a new underwater world record

A teenager who died on the submarine trip to the Titanic wreckage had hoped to set an underwater record.

19-year-old Suleman Dawood died after the Titan submersible he was onboard imploded during its dive to view the wreckage of the Titanic on the floor of the North Atlantic Ocean.

The teen had hoped to set a new underwater record by solving a Rubik’s Cube at the bottom of the ocean.

Suleman was onboard the OceanGate submarine along with his multi-millionaire father, Shahzada Dawood. He had brought his Rubik’s cube in the hopes of setting a new record.

Speaking to the BBC, bereaved mother and wife Christine Dawood, explained: “[Suleman] said, ‘I’m going to solve the Rubik’s Cube 3,700 meters below sea at the Titanic’.”

The teen's mother said her son was able to solve the Rubik’s cube in around 20 seconds and that he took it everywhere with him.

Christine explained that she and her husband were due to take the trip some years ago, but their plans were delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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When it was rescheduled for June 2023, she gave up her space for her teenage son.

“Then I stepped back and gave them space to set [Suleman] up because he really wanted to go,” Christine explained.

She added: “I was really happy for them because both of them, they really wanted to do that for a very long time.”

Christine and her 17-year-old daughter Alina were on board the Polar Prince “mothership” that had launched the sub which later lost communications 1 hour and 45 minutes into the dive.

She said: “I didn’t comprehend at that moment what it meant – and then it just went downhill from there.”

The mother said she clung to hope, but it began to fade as the rescue mission went on.

“I think I lost hope when we passed the 96 hours mark,” she explained.

Suleman and his father Shahzada Dawood were two of five passengers who died when the submarine imploded.

Also onboard the vessel was British billionaire Hamish Harding, former French navy diver Paul-Henry Nargeolet and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush.

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