Teen who died in sub disaster wanted to break Rubik's cube record
Teenager who died in Titan sub disaster wanted to break Rubik’s cube world record while exploring Titanic wreckage 3,700 metres below the ocean surface – as video shows the 19-year-old impressing friends by solving the puzzle in seconds
- Suleman Dawood, 19, could solve a Rubik’s Cube puzzle in just 12 seconds
The youngest victim of the Titan sub disaster wanted to break the Rubik’s cube world record while exploring the Titanic wreckage in the depths of the Atlantic.
Suleman Dawood, 19, was obsessed with the coloured cube and would dazzle onlookers by solving it in 12 just seconds, his mother Christine has revealed.
The teen had applied to Guinness World Records and was ‘so excited’ to try and solve the puzzle 3,700 metres below the ocean surface. His father Shahzada, who also died, had brought a camera on the doomed voyage to capture the moment.
Suleman could complete a Rubik’s Cube at a ‘quite impressive’ speed and was known to show off his skills. Since his passing, poignant footage of him solving the puzzle as a challenge in a Glasgow city centre bar around Christmas last year has surfaced.
A drinker who witnessed the university student’s party piece said the video shows how ‘full of life and fun’ Suleman was, adding that he had his ‘whole life in front of him at this point’ and ‘had no idea what was going to happen to him just a few months later.’
Suleman Dawood, the youngest victim of the Titan sub disaster, wanted to break the Rubik’s cube world record while exploring the Titanic wreckage in the depths of the Atlantic. The 19-year-old is pictured working on the puzzle
Suleman could complete a Rubik’s Cube in just 12 seconds. Since his passing, poignant footage of him solving the puzzle (pictured) as a challenge in a Glasgow city centre bar around Christmas last year has surfaced
Suleman Dawood and Shahzada Dawood were two of the five victims killed instantly when the submersible suffered a ‘catastrophic implosion’ just 1,600ft from the bow of the Titanic wreck
Christine shared how Suleman loved the famous square puzzle so much that he carried it with him everywhere. He was also adept at solving it at high speed.
The teenager, who recently completed his first year at Strathclyde Business School in Glasgow, had contacted the officials about attempting to break the Guinness World Record for the puzzle while on the OceanGate voyage.
She told the BBC: ‘He said, ‘I’m going to solve the Rubik’s Cube 3,700 meters below sea at the Titanic.’
Shahzada, a UK-based businessman and one of Pakistan’s richest men, had planned to document the boy’s attempt.
The father-son duo were two of the five victims killed instantly when the submersible suffered a ‘catastrophic implosion’ just 1,600ft from the bow of the Titanic wreck.
Suleman’s love for the puzzle was referred to in a statement from his family released overnight which said he is ‘remembered fondly by colleagues as a tall young man walking around with his beloved Rubik’s cube and a smile on his face’.
‘He loved science fiction literature and volleyball but his greatest quality was the humility he espoused which was a true reflection of his parents’ upbringing.’
Last December the teen showcased his skill at a bar in Glasgow.
Christine Dawood said Suleman had applied to Guinness World Records and was ‘so excited’ to try and solve the puzzle 3,700 metres below the ocean surface. She and her son are pictured together
Last December Suleman showcased his Rubik’s Cube skills at a bar in Glasgow (pictured)
A witness to his party piece said ‘he was able to do it in seconds’ and failed Suleman’s attempt (pictured) as ‘quite impressive’. The teen is understood to have carried the puzzle with him everywhere he went
A witness to his party piece recalled: ‘It was last Christmas. The bar was quite crowded and Suleman did the Rubik’s cube – he was able to do it in seconds.
‘It really was quite impressive. I gather he’d carry one round and do it all the time, that’s how he got so fast.’
They added: ‘It’s so sad seeing this now as it shows what a bright boy he was, so full of life and fun.
‘He’s got his whole life in front of him at this point on when he does this as a trick in the pub and of course he had no idea what was going to happen to him just a few months later. It’s awful.’
A friend of Suleman earlier this week described him as ‘fun-loving’ and specifically cited him being a Rubik’s cube whiz.
Christine said she and her 17-year-old daughter Alina have vowed to try to learn to finish the Rubik’s Cube in Suleman’s honour.
The grieving mother said: ‘Alina and I said we are going learn how to solve the Rubik’s cube. That’s going to be a challenge for us because we are really bad at it but we are going to learn it.’
She also revealed how she intends to continue her late husband’s work.
‘He was involved in so many things, he helped so many people and I think Alina and I really want to continue that legacy and give him that platform when his work has continued and it’s quite important for my daughter as well.
Five people lost their lives onboard the Titan submersible after it suffered a ‘catastrophic implosion’ 1,600ft from the bow of the Titanic
Christine Dawood said her husband, Shahzada Dawood, was ‘so excited he was like a child’ at the prospect of seeing the Titanic wreckage. The couple are pictured together
The Dawood family boarded the sub’s mothership, Polar Prince, on Father’s Day hoping for the trip of a lifetime.
Christine says Shahzada was ‘so excited he was like a child’ at the prospect of seeing the Titanic wreckage.
She and Alina were still on board the Polar Prince when word came through that communications with Titan had been lost. Christine said they held out hope to begin with after being the sub did not initially return.
She said: ‘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.
‘We had loads of hope, I think that was the only thing that got us through it because we were hoping and… we talked about things that pilots can do like dropping weights, there were so many actions people on the sub can do in order to surface.
‘We were constantly looking at the surface. There was so many things we would go through where we would think ‘it’s just slow right now, it’s slow right now’. But there was a lot of hope.’
Christine and her daughter Alina were on baord the sub’s mothership, Polar Prince (pictured), when word came through that communications with Titan had been lost
She said she ‘lost hope’ when 96 hours had passed since her husband and son boarded the submersible, which indicated they had run out of oxygen.
She revealed that’s when she sent a message to her family saying she was ‘preparing for the worst.’
Alina held out a bit longer, she said, until the call with the US Coast Guard where they were informed debris had been found.
The family returned to St John’s in Newfoundland, Canada on Saturday, and on Sunday held a funeral prayer for Shahzada and Suleman.
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