Submarine Carrying Wealthy Tourists To View Titanic Wreckage Goes Missing
Looks like turning the deadly misfortune of thousands of people into a tourist attraction for the rich wasn’t a good idea after all. Via CBS:
A search and rescue mission was underway Monday for a submarine that went missing in the North Atlantic on an expedition to explore the wreckage of the Titanic. Lt. Jordan Hart of the U.S. Coast Guard in Boston first confirmed to CBS News that personnel were “currently undergoing a search and rescue operation” when asked about the rescue efforts off the coast of Newfoundland.
At a news conference Monday afternoon, Rear Admiral John Mauger confirmed that five people were on board. A Coast Guard official identified them as an operator and four mission specialists — a term the company uses for its passengers.
The vessel submerged on a dive Sunday morning, and the crew of the Polar Prince — the ship that ferried the submersible and expedition members to the dive site — “lost contact with them approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes into the vessel’s dive,” the Coast Guard said in a tweet.
[CBS]
“Mission specialists,” i.e., tourists. That’s cute for them, and I hope they felt special. I wonder if they had name tags or wore special costumes. How nice that our tax dollars (via the Coast Guard) are being used to partake in the tragic follies of billionaires.
