A submersible, used to take tourists 12,500 feet into the depths to view the wreckage of the Titanic, has gone missing in the Atlantic Ocean.
The submersible is part of a fleet owned by OceanGate Expeditions, which charges tourists $250,000 dollars for an eight-day expedition to see the wreckage of the famous ship.
I'll say that again. $250,000 to see the wreckage of the Titanic.
I mean that's quite a bit considering you can grab a balloon flight to space for somewhere between $50,000 and $125,000.
And if you're going to shell out that kind of money for things to go wrong, falling to your death from space sounds a lot more exhilarating than slowly asphyxiating in a tiny metal tube underwater.
But that's just me.
Reports are indicating that the sub could be stuck in the sunken ship's wreckage, with only a few days of oxygen onboard.
OceanGate said in a press release,
We are exploring and mobilising all options to bring the crew back safely. Our entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families.
One of the five crewmembers is reportedly British explorer Hamish Harding.
Rear Admiral John Mauger of the U.S. Coast Guard gave a press conference Monday afternoon noting that the craft had lost contact on Sunday.
After receiving the call, we... reached out to the vessel and began a surface search. At the same time, we launched a C-130 aircraft to conduct an aerial search...
Mauger said the remote location and depth of the craft makes the search particularly difficult. He said the Coast Guard would be moving additional resources alongside Canadian Coast Guard assets to search the area. Sonar buoys are being used to search the water column.
Mauger also said the sub had approximately 96 hours of oxygen as of its launch this weekend, meaning there is likely less than 60 hours, or 2.5 days of air available to the crew onboard as of the time of this writing.
We'll be praying for their safe return.
Here's a video from OceanGate on their Titanic expedition.
Thanks to Not the Bee user @iNatCat for the heads up for this story.
