Missing Titanic Submersible: Search enters ‘Critical Day’ as more ships arrive
The ongoing search and rescue effort for the missing Titan submarine with five people on board, with a massive response from US, Canadian and French authorities, is massive, including both the US Navy and Coast Guard.
The cost of such an effort is likely to be similar, and it is unclear whether taxpayers in the affected countries will ultimately have to pay it. The passengers aboard the submarine paid $250,000 each for the experience of diving to the Titanic.
“These people paid a lot of money to do something extremely risky and hard to fix,” said Chris Boyer, the executive director of the National Association for Search and Rescue, a non-profit organization focused on wilderness rescues. The rescue mission, he said, would “probably cost millions”.
In the United States, search and rescue operations — who performs them and who pays for them — depending on where you get lostsaid Mr. Boyer. Some states, such as New Hampshire, charge individuals for rescues if the people are determined to have been reckless.
Cynthia Hernandez, a spokeswoman for the National Park Service, said in a statement that the agency does not charge for search and rescue operations that take place in its parks because it considers them a public service. The park service conducted 3,428 search and rescue missions last year.
But, she said, when the cost of search and rescue efforts “exceeds a certain threshold, funds can be diverted from NPS funds to other types of programs or projects.”
It is not known whether OceanGate Expeditions, the company that provided the excursion to the ruins of the Titanic, required participants to purchase travel insurance.
The organizers of risky and adventurous expeditions, including operators such as Abercrombie and Kent And Black Tomato, said they need comprehensive insurance policies. Peter Anderson, general manager of the luxury concierge service Knightsbridge circlesaid the company works with services such as Covac Global which can “evacuate and repatriate our members for medical emergencies.” But even the minimum policy, $100,000, wouldn’t come close to paying for current efforts.
The Coast Guard did not immediately respond to questions about the cost of previous extensive search and rescue efforts.
In 2021 it made it Cyril Derreumaux, an experienced kayaker who spent about a week attempting to paddle 2,400 nautical miles from the California coast to Hawaii. The Coast Guard estimated that his rescue, which involved a helicopter and at least one diver, cost $42,000. The San Francisco Chronicle.
Mr. Derreumaux, who lives in Marin County, California and is now 46, emphasized in an interview that his goal was to fulfill a dream and that he was not a tourist who had undertaken the venture with minimal training. He received backlash after being rescued, he said, with some people saying the effort was costly and unnecessary. A stranger even sent him a Venmo request for tens of thousands of dollars, Mr. Derreumaux said.
Mr Derreumaux said he was grateful to the Coast Guard for saving his life, along with the lives of many others who needed their help.
“I wouldn’t have called the Coast Guard if it wasn’t a life-threatening situation,” he said.
The following year he attempted the journey again. This time he was successful.
“I knew I had what it took to do it,” he said. “I think it’s part of the human spirit to do things that are really hard for what it teaches us about human resilience, determination, and to do things that might make no sense.”
Of the Titan’s passengers, Mr. Derreumaux said: “Their lives are worth saving.”
Claire Fahy reporting contributed.