The news reports said the submersible Titan was “lost at sea”. That does not capture the difficulty of a search-and-rescue operation in the cold, darker- than-dark depths of the Atlantic Ocean. The tragic situation is a reminder that when humans invade exotic environments for which they are not adapted, there is a minimal margin for error.
The submersible Titan, operated by the private company OceanGate Inc as a high-priced adventure travel opportunity, was supposed to visit the encrusted hulk of the Titanic ocean liner, which rests on the muddy seafloor kilometres below the surface of the Atlantic.
On Sunday, the submersible endured some kind of malfunction or catastrophic incident and went silent 1 hour 45 minutes into its 2-and-a-half-hour dive.
The very deep sea is a forbidding, almost alien environment, inhabited
