The mother of the teenager who died aboard the doomed OceanGate submersible has spoken out.
Christine Dawood, along with her daughter Alina, was waiting on the OceanGate mothership while her husband, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, and her son, 19-year-old Suleman, journeyed to the bottom of the Atlantic along with three other Titan passengers.
Just less than two hours after the mission began, Christine and Alina were left speculating and worrying when the crew aboard the Polar Prince told them that they had lost all communication with the Titan sub.
After a days-long search and rescue mission, Christine admittingly lost all hope knowing that even if the crew were still alive, they would have run out of oxygen by then.
“That’s when I lost hope. That’s when I sent the message to my family onshore, I said: ‘I am preparing for the worst,’” she said as recalled the search for the doomed vessel hitting the 96-hour mark.
Breaking into tears while speaking to BBC, she added: “I miss them. I really, really miss them.”
Christine also paid tribute to her young son as she revealed that the Strathclyde University student wanted to break the world record for solving the Rubik’s cube at the greatest depth ever attempted.
“There were so many actions the people on this sub can do in order to surface… they would drop the weights, then the assent would be slower, we were constantly looking at the surface. There was that hope,” the grieving mother and wife added as she recalled the excruciating hours after the communication with Titan was lost.
“We all thought they are just going to come up so that shock was delayed by about 10 hours or so. By the time they were supposed to be up again, there was a time…. when they were supposed to be up on the surface again and when that time passed the real shock, not shock but the worry and the not so good feelings started.”
Christine also admitted her daughter hadn’t lost hope until the US Coast Guard came across the remains of the imploded sub and declared all passengers dead.
“My daughter didn’t lose hope until the call with the Coastguard when they basically informed us that they had found debris,” she said.
“She is such an incredible young woman, she is so self-aware. She believes in science, and she really believe, just like if you board a plane, that the science, the mechanics, the engineering will work.’
Christine further dismissed claims that her son was terrified of the trip saying both the father and son were excited for the diving experience.
“We just hugged and joked actually, because Shahzada was so excited to go down, he was like a little child. He had this ability of childhood excitement, they were both so excited,” she insisted.
The family has since the tragic announcement on Thursday held a funeral prayer for the late father and son. Our thoughts remain with their loved ones during this challenging time.