In the wake of the worst kind of publicity, deep-ocean diving tourism company OceanGate Expeditions has announced that it is suspending its commercial operations and underwater explorations following the recent tragedy that captivated the entire worlds attention.
OceanGate is the outfit whose Titan submersible imploded last month during a dive trip to see the wreckage of the RMS Titanic where it sinks on the floor of the North Atlantic Ocean. Bound for depths 2.4 miles below surface level, the Titans five occupants were killed instantly due to enormous deep-sea pressure.
In fact, so little of the submersible remained following the accident that search-and-rescue teams were hard-pressed to find any debris, and they continued to consider the vessel merely missing for days after OceanGates support crew lost contact with the craft less than two hours into its June 18 dive. ??
OceanGate did not release a formal statement declaring the suspension of operations. Instead, the move was made public via a brief statement that appears at the very top of its official website. No further details were divulged, but it is no longer possible to make bookings and some of the sites features have been disabled. Reportedly, a company spokesperson declined further comment on the situation when contacted by AP News with a request for more information.
"Well, an accident of this magnitude definitely brings attention, Alain Grenier, a high-risk travel researcher at the University of Quebec told NPR. Will it shut down the type of tourism? Absolutely not. I think what will happen in the probably shorter than longer term is that it will raise even more interest."
Grenier opined that people will continue to engage in risky activities, whether that be attempting to climb Mount Everest, flying on planes or driving their cars. "Once they can be convinced again that the activities are safe, then they will go back," he said. "The human nature is to think, 'Well, this will happen to other people. This won't happen to me. I will be more careful'."
The five passengers killed in the Titan submarines catastrophic implosion were OceanGates own CEO, Stockton Rush; British adventurer Hamish Harding; prominent Pakistani investor, Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman; and French diver and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
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