Suleman Dawood, the 19-year-old who died in the Titan submersible along with his father and three others, had brought a Rubik’s cube on the trip in hopes of breaking a world record, his mother said.
Suleman had applied to Guinness World Records ahead of the mission to view the Titanic’s wreckage and was “very excited” to try to solve the puzzle 3,700 meters below the ocean, his mother, Christine Dawood, told the broadcaster. british. bbc news.
His father, Shahzada Dawood, even brought a camera to document the record-breaking moment, he said.
The comments came as the US Coast Guard launched an investigation into the implosion of the submersible, following a saga that gripped the world for days and sparked a vast search in the North Atlantic.
Christine said her son loved solving the popular square puzzle and would often carry a Rubik’s cube with him, surprising those around him with his ability to solve it in just 12 seconds.
“He said, ‘I’m going to solve the Rubik’s cube 12,000 feet under the sea on the Titanic,'” Christine said. Guinness World Records did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.
Christine said she had initially planned to go with her husband to see the wreckage of the Titanic, but said the trip was canceled due to the covid-19 pandemic.
“Then I stepped back and gave them space to establish [Suleman] because he really wanted to go,” she said.
In an earlier interview with NBC News, Suleman’s aunt, Azmeh Dawood, said the 19-year-old had told a relative that he was “terrified” and didn’t feel “very ready” for the Titanic trip.
However, she said he came aboard OceanGate’s 22-foot submersible because the voyage fell on Father’s Day weekend and he was eager to please his father, who was passionate about Titanic history.
Both Suleman and his father died along with three other men after the submersible they were in suffered what US Coast Guard officers claimed on June 18, which marked Father’s Day.
Suleman’s love of Rubik’s cubes was also mentioned in an obituary posted by the 19-year-old’s family and his father.
The teenager was remembered by colleagues at the Engro Corporation, where his father was vice president and where Suleman had completed a summer internship in 2022, “as a tall young man walking around with his beloved Rubik’s cube and a smile on his face.”
Also killed in the implosion were Hamish Harding, a British tycoon living in the United Arab Emirates; French sailor and Titanic expert Paul Henry “PH” Nargeolet, who was nicknamed “Mr. Titanic”; and Stockton Rush, CEO of the submersible’s operator, OceanGate Expeditions.
The US Coast Guard said Sunday it had launched a marine board of inquiry into the implosion of the Titan submersible. The goal will be to determine what caused the implosion and the deaths of the five men on board, lead investigator Capt. Jason Neubauer told a news conference. The board can also make recommendations to seek civil or criminal penalties to the proper authorities, he said.
The investigation was in its evidence-gathering phase, which includes salvaging debris and working with Canadian authorities at the port of St. John’s, Newfoundland. Once the investigation is complete, the marine board will issue a report to the Coast Guard with its findings and recommendations.
