For those who are unaware: A couple billionaires, a pilot, and one of the billionaires’ son are currently stuck inside an extremely tiny sub a couple thousand meters under the sea (inside of the sub with the guys above).

They were supposed to dive down to the titanic, but lost connection about halfway down. They’ve been missing for the past 48 hours, and have 2 days until the oxygen in the sub runs out. Do you think they’ll make it?

  • SomeDude
    link
    fedilink
    English
    1231 year ago

    It’s interesting how just 6 days ago, a boat with 750 people on board, including 100 kids, capsized near Greece, only 104 survived, and it’s less of an issue than those billionaires

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      611 year ago

      I think it’s because the story about a missing submersible is unusual, and moreover, it’s about a rescue attempt. This makes it more interesting than many other, albeit more dreadful, news stories.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        191 year ago

        750 people drowning is also unusual, and there’s also been rescue attempts.

        All these victims have loved ones, and i don’t wish death on anyone, but for the billionaires I find it quite hard to care much.

        I still hope they’re saved, though; and if they are I very much hope the experience will have changed them.

        • Kantiberl
          link
          fedilink
          21 year ago

          That’s just not the same. Drowning is quick and if you don’t save them immediately they’re most likely dead. Slowly suffocating in a sub while the clock ticks and something can be done about it is a different story.

          Learn to care.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            21 year ago

            You’re assuming they’re suffocating, when the smallest fault in the hull’s integrity would make the thing implode, killing them before they realized what was happening.

            Like everyone, my ability to care has limits. You can’t worry and care about everything. I’ll give my fucks for those who didn’t grow rich exploiting others, thanks.

      • duringoverflow
        link
        fedilink
        -11 year ago

        sure. It has nothing to do that in the one case they are 5 billionaires while in the other case they are 750 poor migrants. No, totally not.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          171 year ago

          Not entirely no, I didn’t see any news outlet leading the story with “5 Billionaires missing after Submersible lost contact”. For quite some time we didn’t even know who was on board. It’s more the fact that boats in the Mediterranean sink all the time, it’s still tragic but we know that that’s an issue we have now (most people unfortunately seem to have decided that they do not care that much). A submersible going missing and the coast guards of 2 countries looking for them, while thei only have air for a couple days, no one knowing where they are and it involving the titanic guarantees clicks, it’s almost like a movie plot. The fact that they are wealthy is certainly not the reason for it though, it’s the circumstances surrounding it, it’s unusual. People also know how ships work and why they capsize, while most people don’t have the slightest idea how deep sea submersibles work.

          So yes, the ship capsizing and killing that many people is horrible and should get more attention, especially from the Goverments involved. It’s ridiculous that we let those poor people drown by the thousands and treat the ones who made it like scum. But I’m not convinced the Titanic story got traction BECAUSE the victims have money.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            51 year ago

            really? The first point of information I found out was that it cost 250k to get on.

            "hey did you hear about the submarine that’s lost?

            “no?”

            “It cost 250k to get on, to go see the titanic wreck”

            pretty much how my entire day went yesterday with various coworkers

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              English
              7
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              That may be true to your experience but for the first few days I heard about this story it had nothing to do with the who or how much it cost. Stories with novelty will always sell more than stories without much novelty. Edit: And I’m not saying that’s right. The accident in Greece is a horrible tragedy, and we should value everyone’s lives equally no matter how much wealth they have. There are legitimate points where we as a society turn a blind eye to the poor (always). But, this is not a story that’s surprising why it’s getting so much attention. It’s gross how some people in this comment section are choosing to increase their hatred toward the rich rather than increasing their compassion for the poor

          • ivanafterall
            link
            fedilink
            11 year ago

            I agree with you, mostly, but you could also argue that the situation only exists/is only possible because they’re wealthy (the same reason the only sub apparently capable of rescuing them is owned by another billionaire). But that doesn’t diminish your point–were these somehow 5 poor people stuck at the bottom of the ocean in a sub near the Titanic, it would still probably get a lot of attention.

          • duringoverflow
            link
            fedilink
            01 year ago

            so you think that 2 governments would had started spending millions if 5 migrants had somehow been trapped in the seabed of the Mediterranean?

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              81 year ago

              5 migrants? No fucking way. 5 average citizens of any developed nation? Sure. We perform expensive and resource intensive search and rescue operations for people lost in the wilderness or out at sea all the time. And once the media brings attention to it, there’s a lot of pressure to keep the funding going, otherwise next election cycle people are going to remember the current leadership as “those guys who just left some poor people to die to save money.”

            • ivanafterall
              link
              fedilink
              31 year ago

              I see your point, but I do think the poster above is right: “rescue” situations do tend to get a lot of media attention. The Thailand cave rescue and various mine collapses also spring to mind (Baby Jessica, anyone?). None of those involved particularly wealthy people (I don’t think?) and they got some measure of global attention.

        • thekernel
          link
          fedilink
          161 year ago

          The Thailand cave rescue was all over the news and they were poor.

          Its about novelty, nothing more nothing less.

          A bunch of rich ppl have died on Mt Everest this year, nobody gives a shit as its a common occurrence.

        • ProtonBadger
          link
          fedilink
          21 year ago

          It’s the mystery, where are they, what’s their condition, what’s going to happen, etc. ? It’s like watching a movie. We’re shallow and just want to be entertained.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      241 year ago

      I don’t disagree, but missing sub is an unusual phenomenon and mystery that gets people interested.

      I don’t think the billionaires part is all that important, I didn’t know about it until today. The Kursk, the kids trapped in a cave, the miners that have spent months in a mine, those were all news too.

      But yea immigrants from war-torn regions - nobody cares unless they have “blond hair and blue eyes”.

    • Very_Bad_Janet
      link
      fedilink
      241 year ago

      The Greece tragedy is lacking the irony and hubris of this.

      I mean, it’s a tourist submersible that was aiming to bring billionaires to view the Titanic wreckage and it likely got wrecked itself. And they named the submersible Titan.

      The sub’s company OceanGate was dinged by a former employee for all sorts of safety issues and they fired and sued him. There are also lots of choice quotes from the CEO (who happens to be on the vessel) about moving fast and breaking things, and regulations stifling innovation. So there’s some possible karma involved.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      91 year ago

      People tend to care more about the stuff that happens closer to them, or is somehow related to them. You probably don’t care all that much about the armed conflict in Mali between the government, ISIS and Wagner Group.

      • duringoverflow
        link
        fedilink
        61 year ago

        if you live in europe, the Mediterranean sea is you know, right next to you. And way much closer than the distance of the titanic to the shore in America, which is about 1000 nautical miles.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          41 year ago

          I don’t know anything about Mali, which is closer to to me than Titanic, but I do know a lot about the Titanic.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      31 year ago

      That’s what I’m more upset about.

      Who gives a shit about a couple of billionaires. Why does this have to be a world-wide news story? Why don’t we care about the 100s of refugees that die all the time in maritime accidents and why are those things dominating the news?

      Time and time again we give the rich people all of our attention. Fuck that. We shouldn’t be letting the media direct our attention like this.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    511 year ago

    The 5 submariners chances of being rescued are very slim at this point but much much higher than the 500 migrants still missing off the coast of Greece who took to the waters not for a joy ride but to escape war and seek a better life.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    461 year ago

    No, nor do I think they should be. There will be millions of wasted taxpayer dollars wasted on trying to recover rich people’s dead bodies. They signed a waiver and knew what they were getting into. There’s nothing to be learned from whatever happened, since the company was clearly negligent. Let them rest on the ocean floor beside the other rich assholes.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      241 year ago

      That’s a bit harsh. If there’s anything that works in modern society pretty reliably regardless of status, it’s search and rescue. Sunk subs can also be an environmental hazard.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        141 year ago

        There is no rescue in this instance, only an expensive recovery. And there are enough environmental hazards in the world at this point, that I don’t think a 5m sub on the sea floor is going to matter much. Most climbers are abandoned to their fate as they made the reckless decision to ascend, just as these people made the reckless decision to descend.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          111 year ago

          It’s still part of S&R. Lost swimmers, ships, small planes, or just people lost in the woods, there are always attempts for recovery long after any chance of survival is gone.

          Yea climbers may be abandoned very high up on Everest, when there’s no safe way to bring them down. But subs, we do look for subs. Let’s not needlessly be dicks about it.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            -31 year ago

            Let’s not needlessly be dicks about it.

            You do you. I will be whatever I want about it however.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        41 year ago

        Sunk subs can also be an environmental hazard.

        Just out of curiosity… how do you figure that a tiny sunken submersible would become a hazard, much less an environmental one?

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          61 year ago

          Probably not a big deal at that depth, I mentioned it as only a general addendum. But it probably has a battery, and those tend to be removed from sunken ships and subs together with other risky chemicals if possible.

          I remember the case of a ship sinking with a shipment of new cars, and they recovered every one of those cars because they didn’t want even one polluting the environment.

          Regardless they’ll want to search for it for the human(e) reasons primarily anyway.

      • Blokker
        link
        fedilink
        English
        11 year ago

        I agree woth this post. Wealth has nothing to do with this. And if they survive they can easily pay the bill.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          -11 year ago

          Pretty hilarious that you think a billionaire would foot the bill if they are (or their families if they’re not) rescued.

    • SporkBomber
      link
      fedilink
      131 year ago

      At least this method of winning the darwin award is going full circle.

      ‘Bringing an outside entity up to speed on every innovation before it is put into real-world testing is anathema to rapid innovation.’

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12215003/OceanGate-REFUSED-independent-inspection-missing-sub-fired-worker-raised-safety-concerns.html

      He hired a guy specifically to work on the safety of the sub and fired him when he raised too many concerns like the viewport not being rated for that depth.

      'Lochridge learned that the viewport manufacturer would only certify to a depth of 1,300 meters due to the experimental design of the viewport supplied by OceanGate, which was out of the Pressure Vessels for Human Occupancy (‘PVHO’) standards.

      'OceanGate refused to pay for the manufacturer to build a viewport that would meet the required depth of 4,000 meters.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        51 year ago

        Exactly, there’s enough evidence that they’re just willfully negligent. Fuck them. The victims should have done even 5 mins of research on the company before getting in the sub.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      121 year ago

      It’s kinda poetic for them to go down next to the titanic, itself a story of complacency and excess/opulance.

    • Endorkend
      link
      fedilink
      41 year ago

      Not only that, one look at the thing they chose to go down into the water in was enough for me to wonder what kind of hallucinogens they must’ve been on to accept that risk.

      • xuxebiko
        link
        fedilink
        61 year ago

        According to David Lochridge (their Director of Marine Operations who was fired and sued), the passenger viewport of the original sub (buit in 2018) was only certified for depths of up to 1,300 meters (4,265 feet), and OceanGate would not pay for the manufacturer to build a viewport certified for 4,000 meters, the depth at which the Titanic rested.

        Whether that defect was corrected in this version of the sub (built 2020-21) is anyone’s guess. Meanwhile, a German entrepreneur who took a trip in this sub in 2021 reported several problems with the electrics and one dive was aborted at 1600ft. So whether these new problems were addressed (by someone who wanted to cheap out on a window) is also unknown.

      • Ben
        link
        fedilink
        41 year ago

        4km down - I get the willies if I see more than 20 metres of water underneath me and I can’t see the bottom.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        111 year ago

        they had to sign a waiver that mentions the possibility of death 3 times on the first page to dive in a vehicle that has never been safety certified and that was criticized years ago by almost 40 experts in a letter to the CEO. who is more insane? this safety mission will cost a fortune regardless of the outcome.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        91 year ago

        I’m not the one getting in a rickety submersible and paying a quarter of a million for the displeasure.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        8
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Should we send rescue missions up Everest to ensure the families of rich thrill seekers get to bury their loved ones, or should we maybe put those resources into saving real, living people?

        It’s unfortunate that their risky joy ride went south, but it would be an actual tragedy if we used hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of dollars of public money to maybe find a few bodies. That money should be used more efficiently helping more people who actually need it.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          11 year ago

          Should we send rescue missions up Everest to ensure the families of rich thrill seekers get to bury their loved ones, or should we maybe put those resources into saving real, living people?

          It’s unfortunate that their risky joy ride went south, but it would be a actual tragedy if we used hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of dollars of public money to maybe find a few bodies. That money should be used more efficiently helping more people who actually need it.

          The difference is that we already have the infrastructure to do sea rescue missions and the professionals involved need to train regularly, so they may as well use this as an opportunity to do that. It’s not like the people and resources involved would necessarily just be sitting around if it weren’t for this incident.

      • Maeve
        link
        fedilink
        11 year ago

        Why? Why should the lives/recovery of bodies of very few billionaires garner more ethical weight than hundreds of poor desperately trying anything to improve their lot in life, dealt by greedy hoarders?

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    431 year ago

    I suspect they imploded.

    These super deep subs are traditionally not reused very long, because the stress of the water pressing and then releasing weakens them. The more compression-decompression cycles they take the faster they degrade.

    From all the reports, they got a lot of reports of issues that they ignored. I read that one of the reporters who saw it found it to be very jury rigged together. Apparently it was not certified in any way.

    Even if they did survive and the ballast worked correctly, they would surface quickly (decompression sickness?) and cannot open the hatch from the inside. The thing doesn’t float above the water, so its going to be a pain to find. Also they didn’t paint it bright orange with blinking lights, its white, gray, and blue.

    Overall, a lot of poor decisions and ignoring advice lead to disaster.

  • Blue
    link
    fedilink
    351 year ago

    Just imagine, these idiots spend 250k to sit in a iron tube controlled by a cheap offbrand playstation controller but won’t spend any of their money to improve the world. Only satisfying their own ego and greed. I can’t feel sorry for them, best I can do is hope that they imploded so they didn’t have to suffer too long.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      24
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      To be fair, there’s nothing wrong with using a controller to control things, off-brand or otherwise.

      Both industry and the military use off-the-shelf game controllers for things, because they’re easy to obtain, ergonomic and relatively intuitive.

      Although using a wireless one that was infamous for having dropout issues, without some backup mechanism that could also be used to control the submersible was probably something of a mistake. At minimum, you’d expect that they would use one that was wired, just in case someone forgot to charge the batteries before hand, and/or didn’t bring a spare.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        3
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Sure, but not for something as safety critical as the primary way to control it. There’s just so many failure modes. Imagine if one of the sticks pots failed and made them spin uncontrollably. Regardless, they had IIRC six different independent fail-safes to force them to surface. So I’m sure they put some more thought into it than people are giving them credit for.

    • HuddaBudda
      link
      fedilink
      191 year ago

      I’m not going to diss on Logitech, they make some good reliable controllers. I would place them bottom on the list of things that probably broke.

      That being said. I can understand why someone from the outside sees a plastic controller and wonder why they didn’t go with the more expensive plastic controller. But in the end, they both have the same parts. I would also find it VERY strange that there wouldn’t be a backup controller.

      Though it is hard to take pity on the situation when one has to consider. That 250k a ticket is more then 20 single mothers working 2 jobs, so they can feed their kids, so this dude can go see the titanic… in person… Because video documentaries of every angle of the titanic in 4k resolution don’t exist in 2023 apparently.

      • Spaceman Spiff
        link
        fedilink
        4
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        I would also find it VERY strange that there wouldn’t be a backup controller.

        I find a lot of people don’t have a mindset of considering how things could go wrong. It usually works, and it’s always worked so far for them, therefore it will always work going forward. Plus, it’s just so convenient.

        For example, there are people who use their phone as their car key. They simply don’t think about what happens if their phone is lost/stolen, damaged, or even just out of battery. They may or may not learn a lesson when they get burned by it.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      131 year ago

      It’s more than a little ironic they [presumably] died in an accident caused by cutting corners on regulations and safety by saying things like “certifications cost too much time and money, we shouldn’t have to train someone just to convince them that this is safe”, as well as doing things like firing safety personnel when they object to the submersible’s worthiness.

      I saw someone call it the ‘minimim viable submersible’ and I’ve never heard a better description as someone who spends all day working on minimum-viable-product style projects

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          61 year ago

          You fuckin know it lmao I was just reading on Twitter how they’re sending up a c-130 and some special military submersible to help with the search. Who’s paying for that? 🤷🏻‍♂️

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              31 year ago

              And it’s pretty excellent training for future search and rescue missions.

              That’s one of the major benefits the military gets out of this sort of operation.

              Lessons learned in this operation may later save the lives of submariners, even if the billionaires aren’t so lucky.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            31 year ago

            Taxpayers, of course 😶 Meanwhile the EU turns a blind eye to people drowning in crappy boats escaping crappy places to get to a better country.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        51 year ago

        It’s very ironic that the wealthiest man in Pakistan and his son are going to die in a submarine when 100;s of Pakistanis just drowned trying to seek refuge from the country theses men exploited.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        11 year ago

        “This submersible has not been tested or approved and may cause death”

        “wHeRe dO I sIgN???”

    • Very_Bad_Janet
      link
      fedilink
      -11 year ago

      I’m not really in the business of defending billionaires but I think at least one of them, the guy who brought his son, was involved with charities:

      "He works with his family’s Dawood Foundation, as well as the SETI Institute - a California-based research organisation which searches for extra-terrestrial life.

      “Shahzada is also a supporter of two charities founded by King Charles - the British Asian Trust and the Prince’s Trust International.”

      https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-65955554

      He sounds (sounded) like a good person… I do find it interesting that the other billionaires don’t have any mentions of charitable works in articles I’ve read in them.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        41 year ago

        Every billionaire uses charities.

        They’re a way to exert control over the money that would normally go to taxes, and be up to the government to spend.

        It’s not inherently bad, but charity is not quite the saving grace of billionaires that many make it out to be.

      • Maeve
        link
        fedilink
        01 year ago

        If people were willing to pay taxes and work toward equitability, charities for the poor wouldn’t be necessary.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          3
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          Yep. I just want these fuckers to pay their fair share in taxes and to stop using their wealth to influence politics.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    341 year ago

    Sadly I don’t think so. This incident was absolutely preventable. Someone warned them about this and they got fired. A makeshift vessel that wasn’t inspected/certified, immersed to almost 3 times the rated depth, controlled by a wireless Logitech gamepad from 2010 with no redundancy and only 96 hours of oxygen. I really really hope for a last minute miracle though…

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      101 year ago

      i honestly don’t know if i can imagine a worse way to die than spending days trapped in a tiny tube in the middle of the fucking ocean with people i barely know, slowly suffocating suspended in a gigantic void. i hope they find those guys alive.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        11
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Cant imagine worse? Here, let me help. This is an excerpt from the Hoosac Tunnel incident wiki:

        The deadliest accident was the explosion in the Central Shaft on October 17, 1867. Workers were digging the tunnel’s 1,028-foot (313 m) vertical exhaust shaft when a candle in the hoist building ignited naphtha fumes that had leaked from a “Gasometer” lamp.[12] The ensuing explosion set the hoist on fire, and it collapsed into the shaft. Four men near the top of the shaft escaped, but 13 men working 538 feet (164 m) below were trapped by falling naphtha and pieces of iron. The pumps were also destroyed, and the shaft began to fill with water. A worker named Mallory was lowered into the shaft by a rope the next day; he was overcome by fumes and reported no survivors, and no further rescue attempts were made.

        Several months later, workers reached the shaft’s bottom and found that several victims had survived long enough to fashion a raft before suffocating

      • XYZinferno
        link
        fedilink
        English
        61 year ago

        Ever hear the story of Hisashi Ouchi? He died from radiation poisoning over the course of 83 days, before life support was finally unplugged and he was allowed to die. Until that point though, life support kept his body alive as it deteriorated and decayed.

        He was known as the most irradiated living man in history. A fascinating story, but not one for the faint of heart.

    • GONADS125
      link
      fedilink
      English
      81 year ago

      There’s apparently banging in the area in 30 minute intervals. That’s hopeful.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        71 year ago

        If you read the articles closely, the banging stopped a long time ago. They had 40hrs of oxygen, max, left on Tuesday, so time is running short.

        Supposedly a Navy drone sub has arrived in Newfoundland that is capable of lifting the Titan. But they’re really running down to the wire and they still have to locate the sub and get the drone out to the location.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        61 year ago

        Depends how you look at it. I think it’s not hopeful because this implies they are in fact submerged and not on the surface (remember they can’t open the hatch from the inside so that has been a perfectly valid scenario as well). That in turn implies they’re most likely S.O.L I’m afraid. They have like 24 hours left and haven’t even found the sub yet. Getting the logistics done and hauling this one up itself takes a long time.

      • NoiseColor
        link
        fedilink
        English
        21 year ago

        It can be done. They have equipment and protocols for rescuing people from submerged subs.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          111 year ago

          They do, yeah, but not from the depth of the Titanic wreck. If they are truly at the bottom, there is only a small amount of machines that are capable of going that deep. This is all new territory for rescue teams.

        • GONADS125
          link
          fedilink
          English
          51 year ago

          Not saying it can’t be done, just that the prospects don’t appear hopeful to me, especially given they only have around 24 hours of oxygen remaining. They still haven’t even located them… I seriously hope they are rescued, but I think probability is against them unfortunately…

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          1
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          Or atleast drill some air holes if they are on the surface until they can find a wrench, but I imagine whatever size wrench is needed is being carried by a lot of people out there.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            11 year ago

            I don’t think they’ll be able to depressurize their ascension that quick without dangerous consequences. Likely they’ll need 02 before they get to that point.

    • Noumena
      link
      fedilink
      71 year ago

      I’ve heard a lot about oxygen reserves and zero about whether they have enough water for 3+ days.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        21 year ago

        whether they have enough water for 3+ days

        I’m sure they have a couple of cases of Fiji Water in there. Even if not, three days without water shouldn’t kill someone who passes a physical I’m sure everyone on board had to take …

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    281 year ago

    I don’t think that this is the right question for this community, but I’m not optimistic on their rescue.

    Even under ideal conditions, the ocean is enormous, and even with all things going well, finding a properly-equipped submarine that wants to be found, can be a bit like a needle in a haystack, at least according to people with more naval experience than I.

    I hope that they would be rescued, since suffocating to death in a metal tube that’s sealed from the outside seems like rather a horrid way to go, but at the same time, the submersible that is lost was not particularly well equipped. The control system was a wireless game controller which was infamous for having dropout issues. Using controllers is fine and all, since they’re often used in commercial and military applications due to their intuitiveness and better ergonomics (plus the manufacturer doesn’t have to design and build a new one from scratch), but using one that was infamous for having connection problems was rather tempting fate.

    The lost submersible also didn’t have anything like an emergency beacon that could be used to locate them, and it was sealed from outside. Even if they managed to resurface, anyone aboard would still be trapped within the tube, unable to get out.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      21 year ago

      Could you imagine if it was something super dumb like the controller battery wasn’t charged prior and the USB port wasn’t working or something.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      11 year ago

      didn’t have anything like an emergency beacon

      It’s astonishing to me that they wouldn’t have an emergency beacon on a marine vessel that will kill it’s occupants if not unsealed in time.

      It’s not like a beacon would be that expensive.

      And why wasn’t there an independently powered ballast ditching system? Like an emergency button to quickly surface?

      With the known unsafe culture of the company, and these obvious oversights, it’s amazing this didn’t happen sooner.

      I wouldn’t even be surprised if the emergency air was somehow compromised in order to save a couple dollars.

      OceanGate is just as doomed as their CEO.

  • GONADS125
    link
    fedilink
    English
    28
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Seeing the construction of the submersible, I would not have ridden it… As soon as the inventer said “I got these from, uh, camper world…” I would be scurrying the hell out of that thing…

    Apparently the acrylic viewing window was not rated for that depth, and the body of the submersible is constructed from carbon fiber… That whole rig seems sketchy as hell to me…

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      141 year ago

      I mean, I agree that the construction is sketchy (runs the whole thing from an off-brand playstation controller? Couldn’t splurge on the $800 for a real cassette toilet?), but acrylic and carbon fiber are appropriate material choices, if they were used in the appropriate thicknesses and configurations.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          11 year ago

          I mean, are there better materials to use where the thickness and configurations wouldn’t matter?

      • Pixel of Life
        link
        fedilink
        English
        31 year ago

        Nothing wrong with using off-the-shelf gamepads for an application like this. They’re cheap, surprisingly reliable, compact, and use the same communication protocol so you can easily bring multiple controllers made by different manufacturers for redundancy. And it doesn’t matter if your primary control interface is a $50 gamepad or a $10k custom setup, you should still have a completely separate backup system.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        -11 year ago

        ya if there is any one part of the vehicle you would have trouble arguing its the hull it was designed by some of the best minds in the world that specifically specialize in this type of travel at Boeing and MIT.

    • Clairvoidance
      link
      fedilink
      6
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      this video’s journalists even are like “dude this is incredibly scuffed”, those scientists with them should be considered heroes in some sense

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    261 year ago

    Highly doubt it. I’ve been watching coverage and it seems pretty unlikely they will be found before their oxygen runs out (assuming they are even still alive and haven’t died as a result of an implosion).

    What irks me with all the coverage, however, is that no one is pointing out the potential harm to all the people involved in trying to rescue these people. The Coast Guard and other outfits undertaking the rescue attempts are put in danger the whole time they are out there. And of course there’s the cost involved as well.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      51 year ago

      It is an interesting dilemma though isn’t it? On the one hand, emergency services are there for a reason. In general, you don’t want people to hesitate to call them because seconds matter in life threatening situations. What makes people hesitate? Fining them a shitload of money for being dumbasses who need rescuing.

      On the other hand, it creates a bit of a moral hazard. People feel like they can go out and be morons, get in trouble, then get rescued by expensive professionals.

      I feel like these people should face some punitive measures for being dumbasses and ignoring all kinds of safety advice etc. But again, people in the future might not call 911 or whoever when they should, because of that thought “what if I get fined a million bucks for being a dumb dumb?”

      Just something to think about.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      41 year ago

      That’s the coast guards job isn’t it? Should we just let people die without attempting to save them just because it’s costly?

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        121 year ago

        No but I believe there should be consequences for things like this if they are found alive.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        51 year ago

        This rescue effort will cost far more than a regular rescue—a washed to sea boat, or someone overboard. This company charges huge amounts and is wilfully ignorant when it comes to safety and regulation. They, and anyone who agreed to their terms have to shoulder the blame for this.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    231 year ago

    A couple things are potentially different from how op laid them out. (From my understanding)

    The vessel was designed to automatically begin resurfacing after a set period of time underwater, even without pilot input, so it might not be very deep at all. The problem is it doesn’t sit very high in the water and is very hard to see.

    They don’t necessarily have 2 days of oxygen left, those were calculated values, and there may be other gaseous build ups that impair the totally oxygen supplies.

    I hope it was over quickly for them, I don’t know how you could resurface that type of vessel without breaking it. I hope we will find evidence and be able to piece together what happened, but I suspect it’ll just be lost at sea. I don’t think there’s any conspiracy up keep evidence away from the public, I think most people underestimate how difficult it is to find 4 cubic meters inside a 10 cubic kilometer area, hell that would be hard without that area being covered in water.

  • 🦥󠀠󠀠󠀠󠀠󠀠󠀠
    link
    fedilink
    English
    231 year ago

    These billionaires just bought themselves something money can’t buy, a footnote on a Wikipedia page somewhere that their deaths were loosely related to the Titanic.

    Given that every billionaire has blood and suffering on their hands in at least ab abstract fashion and it’s hard to feel sorry for them too.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    221 year ago

    I’m a bit confused that this is receiving so much attention. What’s so special about this case compared to all the other cases of people being lost at sea every year, besides them being rich?

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    181 year ago

    It really depends on how they went. Sudden implosion of the hull, quick and easy.

    Floating around for days until your air runs out, wondering if someone will find you… Not so much.