Titanic tourist sub goes missing sparking search

[CT-Rich]

Climb to 29,000 feet nobody cares
Dive to 12,500 feet (and be a billionaire) all eyes on you...

This was a new and interesting train wreck and rescues (even failed ones) get ratings. I doubt there being rich folk on board had that much effect. The 96 hour count down clock and the name Titanic were the selling points of this drama. If it had been a poor cricket team on that sub, it would still have been a big story.

My condolences to the families, at least it was probably very quick.

 

[BlueTrin]

Why no massive coverage of this:

2023 Statistics: An estimated 600 people summited the world's highest peak, including 350 Sherpas supporting 250 clients. Records were set as well, including Kami Rita Sherpa summiting Everest for the twenty-eighth time. However, 13 climbers and Sherpas have been confirmed dead, with another 4 missing and presumed dead.

In my opinion if you want to be shocked by the asymmetry, you could mention the coverage about the migrants deaths in the Mediterranean:

• Greek migrant tragedy death toll rises, suspects detained (more than 100 deaths)
• At least 30 migrants feared dead off Canary Islands - BBC News

The numbers are shocking (or the war in Ukraine). News coverage is not about numbers. All these deaths are tragic.

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

Regardless of the ultimate cause of this tragedy...... and all of the "what if's" and "should haves"......and armchair quarterbacking in this forum....these were still people who made a personal decision to embark on an adventure what was clearly not without risk. I am still saddened for the loss......but I also believe that men and women will always continue to seek adventure even with the risks....

I think there will definitely be many lessoned learned from this event and I believe that it won't be very long before intrepid men and women....along with better tech and back-up's for the backed up back-up's......that we will be back to visit the Titanic on a commercial / adventure level. It's just human nature and what makes us who we are.

 

[Wookie]

This will take weeks to recover the remains of the sub in its current condition. Nose cone is intact and lying face down. The stern cone with OceanGate logo lies 500 ft away. Wreckage is 1,600 feet (530 yards) off Titanic's bow.

There is already a firestorm brewing on making it illegal to dive the wreck and regulations dealing with subs. This is going to be a crap show now.

Already has been.

Here's a name some of you will recognize.

Titanic Legal Battles | David Concannon | United States

The legal battle for the RMS Titanic and its artifacts from 1985 to 2000.

www.davidconcannon.com

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

In my opinion if you want to be shocked by the asymmetry, you could mention the coverage about the migrants deaths in the Mediterranean:

• Greek migrant tragedy death toll rises, suspects detained (more than 100 deaths)
• At least 30 migrants feared dead off Canary Islands - BBC News

That's been covered, but not a unique event. Not to trivialize it, but that is like traffic deaths that are a daily occurrence.

Boats like these sink often (and too far from any help often at night) as countries like Libya and Turkey fail to comply with international maritime law and ensure boats headed to international waters comply with safety standards. This also has been exacerbated by migrants buying life vests in Turkey that don't actually float. There has been an egregious disregard for human life and safety despite the high cost per head to be smuggled into Europe. When I was in Chios in 2015, there were Syrian refugees in the room next to mine that paid 5000 Euros per person to be smuggled into Greece. I have no idea how much are current rates.

The Titan disaster is a unique event, mired in controversy with the disregard for safety. There's a long line of Oceangate employees terminated for bringing up safety concerns or following regulations (such as completely stripping down a submarine after 5 years)

 

[CT-Rich]

The Everest example proves the point. A huge line of under qualified rich people paying a fortune to march a hill. A percentage of them fall and die every year. It gets cursory coverage, but it doesn’t have the compelling imagery that you get of interviewing coastguard guard officers and engineers while playing stock footage.

I don’t think you will see a raft of regulations that have any real meaning. Western maritime nations will impose strict regulations and standards. Countries like Russia are going to sell seats for tours and some will be safety conscious and others will pretend to be safety conscious.

Anyone know what flag this group was sailing under?

 

[rhwestfall]

Anyone know what flag this group was sailing under?

 

[Bigbella]

Climb to 29,000 feet nobody cares
Dive to 12,500 feet (and be a billionaire) all eyes on you...

Currently, that cost of mounting Everest is a bargain at about US 65,000 (with bells and whistles) -- but there is still a marked lack of starving UC students, dressed to their REI-nines, booking trips to Nepal.

Everest has been climbed for the last sixty years -- old news -- and the Titanic wreckage discovery, still a novelty, at about half of that.

When your cutting-edge private enterprise -- OceanGate -- suddenly requires branches of the US military, Canadian forces, and an international group of oceanographic experts, for rescue, and meets with tragedy, it simply makes the papers.

Someone had already mentioned the bitter irony of a supposedly "unsinkable" submersible filled with rich guys visiting an "unsinkable" ocean liner also filled with the rich.

Add to that, the peculiar fetish some hold for the Titanic (I just don't get it), and you're good to go. Hated the 1997 movie. That "after-school special" romance absolutely sucked and the ship couldn't sink fast enough for my tastes -- like ninety minutes in!

Sadly, these were the first five civilian adventurers to meet that fate -- RIP -- while Everest still has about 310, which is on the increase each and every season that they allow credit dentists from New Jersey, whose sole experience with snow involves an Ace Hardware shovel and their driveway, to make that climb.

The prospect of diving to 4000 meters simply trumps most mountain climbing for attention-getting, and is probably the closest that any of us will ever get to being on another very inhospitable planet -- other than the summit of Everest . . .

 

[rjack321]

I don't understand why this is causing such a rabid fascination and obsession.

1) Its new and novel, people expect death on Everest and only rescues make the news nowadays
2) Because the original owners of the Titanic played fast and loose with their passenger's safety (eg with a meager number of lifeboats) eerily similar to the CEO of Oceangate skimping on the viewport and other recognized safety certifications for the Titan.
3) People resent billionaires

 

[O-ring]

Cameron's take is pretty interesting..