this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2023
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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?

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[–] Almostarctic@lemmy.world 52 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] quantum_mechanic@lemmy.world 39 points 1 year ago (19 children)

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.

[–] julietOscarEcho@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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

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[–] stewsters@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago (4 children)

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.

[–] overzeetop@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Of all the various ways to provide emergency rescue assistance, it appears that they've included almost nothing which would help them in the event of an underwater failure that prevented surfacing (i.e. emergency ballast release failing).

Apparently it was not certified in any way

My understanding of this is limited to the two paragraphs on CNN, but there is a process for "classing" vessels. The owners decided not to do so as the process only certified that the vessel itself is safe for use, and does not verify the procedures for operation or the training of the crew. Their logic for not classing was that most ocean failures are the result of poor procedures or poor crew decisions, ignoring entirely that the reason most failures fall into those to cases is because the vessels themselves are vetted (via the classing process) to eliminate the hardware as a failure mode. It's almost poetic that the man in charge of that decision is on the craft.

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[–] RickRussell_CA@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

Even if they did survive and the ballast worked correctly, they would surface quickly (decompression sickness?)

Decompression sickness is a concern only if they suffered compression. But the main problem, as I see it, is that the sub was made from materials that are famously brittle and tend to degrade over many cycles of pressure and release (resin, carbon fiber, etc). So the likely failure mode is catastrophic failure of the sub under pressure.

There's a reason most deep sea stuff is made out of steel: it's somewhat ductile and recovers from compression with minimal change in properties.

[–] WhiteHawk@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not an expert, but I don't think the air pressure inside the sub changes, so decompression sickness should be impossible. Don't quote me on that, though

[–] fixmbr@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This would be correct. However, I suspect the air pressure in the sub did change. Very rapidly.

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[–] hydra@lemmy.world 18 points 1 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...

[–] Faresh@lemmy.ml 16 points 1 year ago (17 children)

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?

[–] linearchaos@lemmy.world 27 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Honestly, this case is somewhat extraordinary, in a deeply disturbing way.

First there was this amazing quote from the CEO who is missing on the craft right now

"You know, at some point, safety is just pure waste," Rush told CBS' David Pogue during an episode of his "Unsung Science" podcast. "I mean, if you just want to be safe, don't get out of bed, don't get in your car, don't do anything. At some point, you're going to take some risk, and it really is a risk-reward question."

Second, aside from being made from questionable experimental materials, the sub was being controlled by an old, off brand xbox controller. There were numerous design and safety issues that were known at the time of departure. They kinda just did whatever in the F they wanted to. It's a millionaire game of Fuck Around and Find Out and they're not used to finding out.

Third, the damage waiver

The disclaimer, read out by CBS correspondent David Pogue, read: “This experimental submersible vessel has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body, and could result in physical injury, disability, emotional trauma, or death.”

A nervous-looking Pogue makes a face and says, “Where do I sign?” in the footage recorded when he went on the $250,000 (£195,000) trip to see the Titanic at the end of last year.

I get that it's just some rich idiots (and one of their kids) crossing the river styx, but it's not very often you see such amazing disregard for basic safety.

[–] Cynosure@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I don't get why the Logitech controller is so focused on. I get that it's probably not the right controller due to it's age and wireless only nature but COTS parts are often more reliable than in-house ones. The lack of certification as you mentioned is a much larger issue.

[–] linearchaos@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago (12 children)

Any game controller, would be insufficient to put 5 peoples lives in danger.

If you were going to use a game controller to do so anyway, you'd use one that can be easily replaced, maybe something manufactured in the past decade. That F710 is old (2011) and honestly didn't rate all that well compared to other controllers of it's time. It's wireless, adding needless risk.

The certification is all part of it. The control systems need to have backups. The gamepad aspect is interesting because it's blatantly spitting in the face of safety which seemed to be the CEO's style anyway.

Would it have been better than a new xbox controller? I'm not sure, perhaps not if it the new one was at least wired.

[–] joel_feila@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

dear God just think if the part that failed was the controllers batteries

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[–] djay1991@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] mayo@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

They did have money but the people involved Tham Luang cave rescue didn't and that received a ton of attention. Similarly with the Chilean miners stuck underground for 2 months. You also have Kathy Fiscus (an old story but well known at the time) and Nutty Putty caving incident. There is no shortage of similar stories about people getting stuck in places that received wide attention.

The fact they are they rich is only really influencing where they ended up and how they got there.

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[–] Blue@kbin.social 15 points 1 year ago (17 children)

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.

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[–] ilickfrogs@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago

Probably not the worst way to go all things considered.

[–] Noedel@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago (3 children)

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.

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[–] Donjuanme@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago (4 children)

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.

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[–] joel_feila@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

unlikely. sub rescues are hardly successful. Their sub could have imploded, fast way to die. Had a power failure wich would takes days to die either from a lack of o2 or possibly the cold. Or it reached the surface and they got to look out at thet ocean until about noon their time tomorrow unable to open the hatch and slowly die from a lack of air.

[–] GONADS125@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

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...

[–] HaphazardFinesse@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 year ago (4 children)

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.

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[–] Thurkeau@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago (6 children)

I would say that all reasonable efforts should be made to rescue or recover anyone and everyone who has gone missing. We can figure out the rest once we exhaust all optons, or have them back on the boat.

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[–] sternail@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Do you mean imploding? Because if they didn’t implode, being stuck in a sub for days, slowly waiting to suffocate, ist fucking horrible.

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[–] bemenaker@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago (18 children)
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[–] ritswd@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

My understanding is that chances are slim to none. I understand that whatever malfunction happened that cut the contact, has some likelihood to have been a much greater malfunction than just radio, and that they’ve quite possibly already been dead a while.

And even if not, my understanding is that they’re scanning a massive swath of sea and it’s very much a needle-in-a-haystack situation. I wouldn’t be surprised if the only reason such an unlikely operation is taking place, is because the people involved can afford it.

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[–] nightscout@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago (10 children)

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.

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[–] beijingb33f@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Unlikely. Even if they could find the sub, safely raising it or somehow docking with it would take too long. They’re almost out of oxygen, so that thing is a sarcophagus at this point.

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[–] nomadjoanne@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

Normally I wouldn't sympathize with billionaires, but what a horrible way to die! Sadly I don't think they'll be rescued.

Certainly it is possible that they surfaced once they lost connection though... Even so, the search areas are huge

[–] JunctionSystem@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

They're out of air by now. They ded.

[–] xaxl@lemmy.world 9 points 1 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.

[–] MiddleWeigh@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (15 children)

I'm gonna go out on limb and say they're no longer with us.

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