What’re your thoughts on the missing OceanGate submersible situation?

35 comments

1. I think paying big money to get yourself bolted into a metal tube that has failed several safety checks so you can take a tourist trip to see a mass underwater grave is a really stupid way to die.

2. I don’t fuck with the ocean and in turn I hope the ocean will not fuck with me.

3. It’s very sad and I’ve not found any of the jokes to be funny.

   Yes I acknowledge that these are people who put themselves in that situation, and I absolutely agree that the migrants who drowned off Greece were forced into the situation in a way the rich people on Ocean Gate weren’t. But I still find it sad that a bunch of people are losing their lives.
   I don’t get this whole “how come you care about ocean gate but not the migrants” talking point. Any lost life or w tragedy. Ocean Gate is getting more news because it’s less of a common occurrence.

4. I don’t like the ocean. Scary shit out there. even surface ships, a one in a million bad day and you drown to death hundreds of miles away from help after the water itself rips the ship in half dropping you down to the bottom of the sea to feed the crabs.

5. There’s a reason why vehicles are supposed to undergo safety inspections by regulatory agencies. It sounds like they cut a lot of corners on standard safety technology and procedures. I’m shocked that the submarine didn’t have both an umbilical and an emergency locator beacon.

6. The concept of submarine tours to see the Titanic just feels icky to me, like desecrating a gravesite or something.

   If people with more money than sense want to throw down $250k to do it, then that’s what they’re gonna do I guess, but that’s so far out of my price range it’ll never be a possibility to me.

7. It’s terrifying, obviously. The sub itself seems like amateur hour and the company seems beyond sketchy, but I can’t imagine a more terrifying situation. I hope they find them, but I doubt they will.

   The constant comments I see on this asshole convention of a website which basically amount to, “They’re billionaires. They deserve to die” disgust me.

8. People can be critical of the CEO and their criminally bad safety measures while also being compassionate about the fact that a number of people are either now dead or dying in a pretty brutal way. There’s too much “they got what they deserved” sentiment and not enough empathy that these are actual, real people.

   “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes”, “fuck around and find out”, etc.etc. Too much reveling in scared people slowly suffocating to death.

9. Sounds like a nightmare. It also sounds like the founder of the company was a nut, and didn’t want to go through the process of safety checks, and even lashed out when employees told him there were issues. The thought of being trapped down there makes my stomach churn.

10. Everyone involved is a fucking idiot.

11. The sea will try very hard to kill those who show her no respect.

12. I am once again asking people to stop fucking around with watery graves in the name of tourism

13. It’s very sad and I hope their estates pay for the rescue efforts.

14. It’s an unfortunate accident and there’s pretty much zero chance they’ll be rescued alive. You can look up the rescue of Roger Mallinson and Roger Chapman to see just how impossible it is. But it seems like we’re spending an awful lot of money, time, and effort to rescue people who knowingly put themselves in a very dangerous situation. Deep sea exploration isn’t something you fuck with unless you know what you’re doing and completely understand the risks.

    I put it in the same bucket as people who get trapped on Mount Everest. You’re doing something dangerous and you should know it’s dangerous. Having money isn’t going to reduce any of that and it’s no substitution for knowledge.

15. I think Oceangate was a bad choice for a name.

16. They’re very very likely already dead. It is a sad situation and a good reminder to not trust random people with money and no safety checks.

    In typical reddit fashion the wretched dregs of society are out in full forth enjoying people’s suffering just because they have money. That’s pretty gross and a good reminder that most people are not good people.

17. Who the fuck would get in that thing?

    It’s tragic and truly a nightmare scenario. I hope they rescue them but I’m guessing the chances of that happening are only slightly above 0%.

    I can’t believe this was even allowed to happen.

18. There is so much about that sub that just screams Nope! to me. Among all the other things, they are sealed in there from the outside so even if the sub did surface they could still suffocate floating on the surface waiting to be found.

    Also: I can’t believe the sub wasn’t equipped with a pinger and/or a radio beacon.

19. It’s a very unfortunate situation. It is quite possibly one of the worst ways to die that I can imagine. This was so preventable too.

    Idk it just seems like bad taste to me going on a tourist adventure to a shipwreck that serves as a mass grave. I don’t think I myself would willingly go nearly two miles beneath the ocean regardless.

20. It is one of those things where I take a page from my WFR training. Going into the wilderness improperly prepared means you are gambling on death.

    Undersea exploration is orders of magnitude more hostile than even the remotest areas of land in the US. It is basically space exploration but on earth. You should go into it with fear and trepidation. Go into it expecting death and govern yourself accordingly.

21. My thoughts even before this were “I’m never going down in one of those fucking things.” I get sweaty palms just watching U-571.

    Assuming they’re still (temporarily) alive down there, can’t imagine what it’s like trapped in there but surviving on dwindling oxygen for days, knowing you can’t do *shit* about it.

22. After seeing pictures of the sub, you couldn’t pay me $250k to take a ride in it.

23. I hope it imploded in milliseconds and they died instantly and painlessly. Obviously I would prefer everyone to be OK, but that’s looking less and less likely.

24. I feel bad for the people trapped or dead as a result of this. It’s like when the volcano erupted near Australia and the people on the island were hurt or killed. You sign up and pay for an experience, trusting the people guiding you on the tour, and all of a sudden disaster strikes and the guides are as helpless as you are. It’s terrifying.

    To my knowledge this is the first tourist guided tour to the Titanic site. Before, you had to have a good reason and whole team of scientists and engineers to go there.

25. I wish these people could be found, but I don’t think they will be – at least not alive.

    I also don’t think excursions like this that are for nothing except bragging rights combined with huge sums of money and morbid curiosity (a dangerous trio) should happen.

    Research and scientific deep ocean diving? Yes. For shits and giggles? No

26. They imploded and are dead.

27. It’s very sad.

    Also shocking it costs $250k to ride in that thing. You couldn’t get me in it if you paid me $250k.

28. I’m shocked at the amount of people DEFENDING these Titanic tourists as “noble explorers”, or somehow above criticism. The Titanic has been located and mapped down to the last scrap of debris; they did this for their own vanity, not for scientific or historic purposes. If someone poor were to take a gigantic, stupid risk—or cost multiple countries millions in search and rescue—you can bet they’d be derided as stupid and reckless. But when the rich do it, there are all sorts of excuses for them. It’s ridiculous.

29. Money doesn’t buy sense.

30. Just another potentially fun adventure my wife won’t let me do. No helicopter tours, small planes, space flight and now submarine tours to the Titanic.

31. I feel terrible for everyone on board, except the founder of the company. He knew the sub was basically made out of legos, he knew it had experienced *serious* issues on multiple occasions just in the last year – hell, he was practically an advocate *against safety regulations*!

    This case is a perfect example of corrupt, lazy, money-grubbing corpos cutting corners for profit and getting others – and in this case, himself – killed. So, he deserves it, and I say that unapologetically. I hope the company is sued into oblivion, coupled with significantly stricter enforcement of regulations on this kind of thing.

32. I think the situation is very sad in a lot of ways. I think it’s sad they probably won’t be saved.

    I think it’s sad Titanic is still being exploited when it’s the final resting place for 1500 people, some of whom never made it off the ship, especially when they never informed anyone they were doing this trip until they got lost.

    I think it’s sad that this guy was stupid enough to try this stunt in a submersible that had never been certified at these depths with seemingly very little safety features. I think it’s sad he was too stubborn to heed the warnings from his former employees.

    I think it’s sad he convinced some rich people to buy into this death trip.

33. I pity the 19 year old on board, and as for the rest, I’m confused by their stupidity. The potential depth of the vessel could be over 10 times our previous water rescue record, and we have no idea where the submarine is- we’re surveying an area the size of Connecticut. The company should be, and likely will be, held liable.

    As well, I’ve really gotten a wakeup call as to how apathetic people can be. Suddenly a teenager wasn’t a teenager because they came from a wealthy background. That was bizarre.

34. Listen, there’s been an orca uprising recently and I think they’re trying to tell us to STAY OUT OF THE OCEAN. I’m listening to the orcas and I think these guys should have done the same thing.

35. I think it’s a terribly sad situation. It’s an awful way to die, and there’s basically no hope of rescue. Just thinking about being trapped in a tiny metal tube over two miles under the sea makes my stomach turn, especially knowing there’s nothing you can do about it. That’s a tragedy.

    I am disturbed by how many people are saying that they basically deserve to die because they are rich. We can acknowledge how ill-advised and lacking in common sense the trip (and ESPECIALLY the CEO) was and how disparate the press coverage of it is vs. the migrant crisis without taking glee in people dying in horrible ways. That’s just wrong. Hopefully this will be a lesson to everyone to leave the Titanic alone— it’s not a tourist destination, it’s a mass gravesite, and it should only be ventured to for scientific purposes. At least in my opinion.