Titan sub tragedy: Mother of 19-year-old killed in implosion breaks silence, describes agonising wait for vessel to surface

The submersible that vanished off the coast of the North Atlantic during a dive to the wreck of the Titanic has been the subject of a global media frenzy for over a week now. The world watched with bated breath as the terror unfolded in real-time, oscillating between hopeful and desperate with every live update: the wait for the vessel to resurface; the ticking clock until the 96 hours of oxygen the sub carried ran out; the discovery of the debris field, and the final revelation by the US Coast Guard that the Titan imploded soon after its descent, and that the passengers had, in fact, been dead all along.

Now, the wife of Pakistani billionaire Shahzada Dawood and mother of their 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood, who were both killed in the implosion, has broken her silence. Speaking to the BBC, an emotional Christine Dawood detailed the horrific timeline of events over the past week – including the revelation that she was supposed to be in Suleman's place.

Preparing for the worst

Christine and her 17-year-old daughter Alina were onboard Titan's mothership, the Polar Prince, when they received news that communications had been lost with the vessel shortly after it began its descent at 8am on Sunday, June 18. "I didn't comprehend at that moment what it meant – and then it just went downhill from there," she said.

The disappearance kicked off a multi-day search-and-rescue mission involving a coalition of international authorities by sea and air, all while the clock ticked towards the moment when oxygen supply on board was expected to run out. Christine lost hope once they passed the 96-hours mark, she says, but her daughter clung on until the very last minute.

"That's when I lost hope", Christine told the BBC. "That's when I sent the message to my family onshore. I said: 'I am preparing for the worst'."

After news broke that the Titan had disappeared, Christine and her daughter endured an agonising days-long wait, attempting to remain hopeful as the sub's oxygen supply dwindled with every passing minute.

"There were so many actions the people on this sub can do in order to surface", Christine explained. "They would drop the weights, then the ascent would be slower... we were constantly looking at the surface. There was that hope.'

"We had loads of hope. That was the only thing that got us through it – because we were hoping."

But outlook turned bleaker once oxygen on board was thought to have run out, and the widespread search had failed to yield any updates. Still, teenage Alina refused to lose faith.

"My daughter didn't lose hope until the call with the Coast Guard, when they basically informed us that they had found debris", Christine recounts, marvelling at the teenager's self-awareness, and her unwavering belief that her father and older brother would be rescued.

The original plan was to accompany Shahzada in the submersible herself, the mother-of-two revealed. However, when their trip was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic, she stepped back to allow her son Suleman to go on the next dive in her place – "because he really wanted to go."

Once the debris was confirmed to be from the Titan, the family returned to St John's, Newfoundland on Saturday, where they held a funeral prayer for Shahzada and Suleman.

A 'mother's boy' who 'loved his father'

Shahzada Dawood was thrilled to take the high-stakes dive, Christine said. "We hugged and joked because Shahzada was so excited to go down; he was like a little child. They were both so excited."

19-year-old Suleman was just as excited – the teen had completed a 10,000-piece model of the Titanic in Lego, and intended to solve a Rubik's Cube 3700 metres below the sea while visiting the real-life wreck.

He was a "mother's boy", Christine told the BBC, but he also "loved his father".

In honour of their loss, the grieving mother vowed that she would continue her husband's work, and that she and her daughter planned to learn to finish the Rubik's Cube – for Suleman.

"That's going to be a challenge for us because we are really bad at it", a grave Christine said. "But we are going to learn it."

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