A submarine destined for the Titanic wreck site is currently missing with passengers onboard. An international search party including the U.S. Coast Guard and the Canadian Coast Guard are looking for the vessel, as its emergency rations of 96 hours are likely beginning to dwindle.
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We asked survivalist (and Outdoors.com Chief Adventurer) Bear Grylls for comment:
“This is a tragic and very complex situation and it is one of these disasters where those in it can do very little to affect the outcome—it is all reliant on outside help, which, with dwindling oxygen at 12,000-ft depth is a tough ask, but where there is life there is always hope.”
Rescue Missions Gone Right
There are times when in dire situations, the human spirit prevails against all odds.
Recently, four children, aged 13, nine, five, and one, survived a plane crash and spent 40 days in the Amazon rainforest before being rescued. The kids relied on their knowledge of local flora and fauna to forage for food and avoid danger.
In May, a daring rescue on Everest went right when a selfless sherpa stopped climbing to attempt a rescue when he came across a missing Malaysian climber. Gelje Sherpa hauled the climber 600 meters (1,900 feet) down from a place called the “death zone” to a safer spot, and it took six hours. From there, a helicopter was able to lift the imperiled climber on a long line and take him the rest of the way down to base camp.
In 2010, 33 Chilean miners were rescued after surviving a collapse within the copper mine where they were working, plus two months underground while rescue crews struggled to extract them safely.
The “miracle on the Hudson” in 2009 is another inspiring example of a daring rescue. A flock of geese took out an engine shortly after takeoff, but the pilots pulled off an emergency landing in the Hudson River in New York City. All passengers and crew were rescued.
“[W]here there is life there is always hope.”
– Bear Grylls
And just last year, researchers finally found the Endurance, the ship made famous for the failed Antarctic expedition launched in 1914 by Sir Ernest Shackleton—one of the most famous examples of a rescue in history. The Endurance was trapped and eventually crushed by ice. Shackleton and a small group embarked on an arduous journey, eventually finding help and rescuing the entire crew that was left behind on Elephant Island.
Time is the enemy as search-and-rescue crews search for the missing submarine in the Atlantic Ocean. Hopefully, this story will be one to add to the long list of rescues humans have achieved thanks to their endurance and drive to help each other in times of great need.
What’s your favorite daring rescue story? Share in the comments below.
