Of course OceanGate (and Stockton Rush’s estate) should pay for it. Maybe I’d feel differently if they had given any kind of a shit about doing things safely.
I just want to know, if it were me and my kids lost on a homemade raft would 4 countries send 10 ships, airiel surveylence , and the most advanced remote operating vehicles available for 4 days to try and find me? If not, they should pay the extra.
I’m kind of torn. Charging anyone sets bad precedent, but at the same time, if I rent a racetrack (like willow springs) I have to pay for corner workers, insurance, instructor, AND fire/rescue. If rich asshats want to go play, why aren’t they required the same thing? Since, you know, it’s likely shit is going to go wrong with experimental stuff.
Also, expending as much manpower as they did, while immigrant boats capsize, and kill people regularly, seems disproportionally like an overreaction. While they typically throw their hands up and say, “oh a boat capsized, and we looked for an hour, but everyone’s dead, sucks” when immigrants die.
There’s a… I don’t want to call it an “easy solution”, but there’s a pretty understandable and clear distinction that can be made here: If you’re offering a commercial service to people, and an investigation finds negligence on your part, the public should be able to sue to recoup at least some of the expenses.
I don’t think it’s all that slippery a slope. Not many deep sea private submarine rescue operations going on amidst the working class.
I think there needs to be a limit. In (Inland) search and rescue for example, they will do all they can to get you out, but if you’re injured they aren’t calling an ambulance (unless you desire so) and they don’t cover the cost of any kind of healthcare.
In this scenario, it would make sense to restrict or limit aid for non-millitary underwater recovery operations, especially those involving a submarine. The govt should not be bankrolling private companies’ experiments IMO unless there is a really good reason for it
Edit: added type of SAR
Ocean Gate should because of the amount of gross negligence
I don’t mind emergency services being deployed, but they need to be evenly deployed. The higher priority was hundreds of drowning immigrants.
They were an ocean apart from each other and the deep-sea submersibles and hydrophones used in the Ocean Gate rescue would have been pretty much useless in the case of the refugee boat. So being upset about the resources spent on Ocean Gate is a bit unfair, it’s not like they were facing an either/or choice.
… in an uncoordinated nighttime voyage on an overloaded unlit blind boat …
In order to remain hidden as long as possible for a better chance to sneak into a country, they’re doing about as many things wrong as possible, including severely impacting the ability of rescue craft to get onsite in time.
Is the biggest risk still hypothermia in the warmer climes, if victims don’t drown immediately? Either case presents a really short window for rescue.
