Titan Submersible Tragedy Sheds Light on Lack of Safeguards for High-Risk Travel

Mountaineers have long climbed to the top of Everest, and scientists have descended to the Antarctic Ocean in submersibles. In recent decades, well-funded and little-expert travelers have joined these explorers, or even ventured further, paying to visit the bottom of the ocean and the farthest reaches of space, literally reaching the bottom of the earth. Boundaries are now touched. But as the five fatalities on the Titan submarine revealed, there are no clear safeguards in place should something go wrong.

This week’s tragedy focused on issues surrounding rescue efforts and government oversight in this new world of extreme travel. Who is responsible for search and rescue and who will pay for it? Is it possible to purchase insurance against disasters? It also raises the question of when the risks are too great or when the danger is too great to rescue.

All of this is happening as thrill seekers embark on riskier and riskier adventures and expeditions.

“People want these experiences, they will continue to want them, and they will be willing to pay exorbitant amounts for them,” said Anthony Burkrich, travel advisor and founder of luxury travel services. speaks. inspired citizen.

The adrenaline rush comes at a high price

In recent years, technological innovations have opened up the possibilities of travel, and wealthy travelers are willing to spend more money to go farther, especially when it comes to space travel and underwater exploration.

“Some people like watches, some people like to explore, because that’s how they enjoy themselves,” says Roman & Co., a referral-based luxury lifestyle and travel company based in New York City. Erica’s Roman Chipolka says: Space VIP A service that connects customers and space tourism operators.

About one million tourists a year set out on some kind of underwater sightseeing expedition, according to the company. triton submarineis a Florida-based company that offers “superyacht submersibles”. (These large, ultra-luxury, customizable underwater vessels are said to have cost him $2.5 million to $40 million to build, and Titanic director James Cameron is also an investor.) are linked.)

Expeditions range from short submarine tours such as: 2 hours, $180 trip Sinking in 100-foot-deep waves in Maui, Hawaii, the ship spends the night at Lover’s Deep, an undersea hotel staffed by chefs and butlers, for about $300,000 a night, sailing passengers through the Caribbean reefs of St. Lucia. take the The cost of the Titan Expedition to see the Titanic was $250,000 per person.

Diego Gomez, 36, a medical director from Seattle, visited Antarctica in February. He booked a route with Seabourn Cruise Lines, where most cabins start at her $10,000, and after arriving in the Antarctic, was able to catch a glimpse of the ocean floor on Seabourn’s expedition submarine.

Gomez said the experience before Titan’s fate was revealed had exceeded expectations. “People have never heard of Antarctic underwater life. That’s why I signed up for this activity,” he said.

Before boarding, he and other travelers were given a tour of the submarine’s safety features, and he said he was always connected to the ship while diving 1,000 feet.

“I felt very safe,” he said. “I want to do it again.”

Next is space travel. The sector is booming, with billionaire-driven companies such as: blue origin and space x It has already successfully launched a suborbital space flight. Suborbital spaceflight tickets start at $450,000 at Virgin Galactic. said in a news release It is scheduled to make its first flight next week.

“Last year’s Blue Origin and Virgin launches and the James Webb Telescope’s photographs have created a renewed interest in space that has become a cultural zeitgeist,” Chipolka said.his Space VIP He said there has been a 40% increase in inquiries for the service this year.

And for aspiring space travelers, little training is required. Passengers on Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin, which also includes Star Trek TV star William Shatner, are gearing up for the experience of blowing up 102 miles above Earth in just two days. He said he had “complete training”.

when things go wrong

Various forms of adventure travel have insurance and support systems in place. Everest climbers can join a climbing company, hire a Sherpa as a climbing guide, or take out travel insurance that offers various protections up to the mountain’s high altitudes.

If the situation gets worse, if they know your whereabouts, the company may rush to rush to take you to the hospital or provide on-site rescue.helicopter will take you Suffered frostbite while attempting to climb the Himalayas. If you get into social unrest abroad, former Navy SEALs are there to help.

Nick Ghorathy, Public Relations Officer service groupThe company, which provides personal travel security on a case-by-case basis, said prices can vary between five and six figures.

In addition, some travel assistance companies offer annual memberships for security, medical evacuation and rescue services. kovac global The company offers a “full coverage” package for medical and safety evacuation, including search and rescue, which costs about $2,800 and can go up to $1.3 million, according to company CEO Ross Thompson. said to be compensated.

He said no customers have exceeded the upper limit of coverage so far, and the most expensive evacuations from Indonesia to Canada are for travelers with severe cases of COVID-19. added. It cost $400,000.

In the United States, federal and state agencies, including the National Park Service, pay for search and rescue operations, depending on location. As for the salvage, the U.S. Coast Guard, which led the Titan rescue, is not legally allowed to charge for it, an agency spokesperson said.

The three nations have deployed at least nine ships, multiple aircraft and remotely operated vehicles during a massive rescue operation to save the doomed Titan submarine. Experts estimate the cost to be at least tens of millions of dollars.

Thompson puts the Titan search-and-rescue effort at around $100 million, adding that ROVs are “very expensive to operate.”

“That’s where the Coast Guard’s budget comes from, so taxpayers are ultimately responsible,” said association president Mickey Hastings. National Search and Rescue Associationa non-profit organization focused on wilderness rescue.

But most of the country’s search and rescue teams are volunteer organizations, said Chris Boyer, executive director of the Search and Rescue Association.

He stressed that a new level of extreme travel requires rethinking how rescue operations can reasonably be carried out in the event of a disaster.

“Can people do something like this and expect a spontaneous response, or do they expect a response from government agencies and governments?” Boyer said specifically about space tourism. “Who does it and how does it work?”

Indeed, as the fate of the Titan’s voyage shows, even long-established travel agencies are facing their limits.

“There is nothing we can do to help people who are 15,000 feet below sea level,” said Chief Executive Dan Richards. global rescue, provide evacuation and on-site rescue services. “We can only do what humans can do.”

Kovac Global’s Thompson said there could be new calculations for extreme risk coverage for insurance contracts. Older models may no longer make sense for complex rescue operations with unprecedented costs. “I’m far from someone who says, ‘I’m in charge of diving the Titanic,'” said Thompson.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration oversees the regulation of commercial space travel and requires operators to have “insurance to cover potential damage or injury to the public, public property, government personnel or property at risk from operations.” or prove financial responsibility,” the spokesperson said. said in a statement.

Additional policies, such as insurance for participants climbing the capsule for space travel, are “a matter between operators and participants.”

Oversight Opacity

Regulations on these otherworldly experiences have also lagged the pace of the burgeoning market.

The FAA’s oversight of space travel is limited to “protecting people on the ground and others” in domestic and maritime airspace, an FAA spokesperson said. The FAA does not have a role to “regulate the safety of passengers on commercial spacecraft.”

And little has been overlooked in the “small niche market” of diving into the depths of a sunken ship to see the wreckage up close, says marine historian Salvatore Mercoliano. Campbell University Professor Buies Creek, North Carolina

There were very few regulations regarding the Titan’s design. Dr Mercoliano said there is no mandatory classification of submersibles on the high seas and there are loopholes that allow Oceangate Expeditions to circumvent this measure. The Everett, Wash.-based company claims Titan is so advanced that it will take years to be certified by a rating agency, and the organization explained the situation in his 2019 blog post. He describes it as a “disgust for rapid innovation.” (The post has since been deleted.)

Further complicating matters, Dr. Mercoliano added, Titan was operating in high seas not under the jurisdiction of any country.

“There is really no external agency to guarantee the installation of redundant communications systems, emergency beacons, etc., that are fired when needed,” he said.

International maritime law requires all available ships to respond to distress calls at sea, and the regulation came into force after the sinking of the Titanic more than 100 years ago, sparking a massive search and rescue operation this week. became.

who should go?

It remains to be seen if last week’s ill-fated Titan expedition will lead to better oversight. But the incident sparked a debate among explorers and wealthy travelers about who should embark on this kind of perilous trip.

West Hansen is a 61-year-old ultramarathon canoe racer, Explorers Club, paddled the entire length of the 2,100-mile Volga and Amazon rivers in Russia. Hansen and four other experienced kayakers will set out next week to paddle the Northwest Passage. He believes tourists who “treat” in areas “just for explorers to see” may have a false sense of security.

The urge to explore and test limits is very human, Hansen added, but money doesn’t “reduce potential dangers.”

Debra Kamin contributed to the report.

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