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Diving to 110m?

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shoutatthesky

Generalist
Mar 4, 2006
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Pretty tragic event in Tonga recently. The Princess Ashika, and inter-island ferry, sank with the loss of 73 lives. Unfortunately those bodies are trapped inside the vessel at -110m. The NZ Navy says it will cost $500'000 per day to conduct a retrieval operation. Isn't there a better way? why don't the navy just attach some float bags and bring the vessel back to the surface? Here is some more info and pictures of the wreck - Fatal ship wreck photographed | Stuff.co.nz
 
Reactions: apneaboy
That's a big ship to refloat. As much as it is a tragedy the risk of recovering 73 bodies is very dangerous, especially if it was a manned recovery as in one diver recovers one body I can't image it would be safe or effective. Diving to -110m even for Navy trained divers, penetrating into a dangerous wreck to recover a body is dangerous and other rescue missions have ended in tragedy, lest we forget David Shore.

As for Mr Gordon's idea of "You could just tear the top part open. . . the bodies would just float up". While effective it is somewhat disrespectful and crude.

There is no easy solution to it.

--Edit--
-110m is within non-commercial limits but at a very very reduced cost but a higher risk.
 
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Reactions: shoutatthesky
My opinion is that it is almost never justified to risk LIVES for DEAD bodies...
Same for huge amounts of resources.
I think world religions (and cultures) just got it wrong.
 
DeepThought said:
My opinion is that it is almost never justified to risk LIVES for DEAD bodies...
Same for huge amounts of resources.
I think world religions (and cultures) just got it wrong.
Click to expand...

Finally someone who agrees with me on that!

You know what really pisses me off? Near where I live there was a marsh, home to lots of birds. Well they recently destroyed the marsh to create a fancy graveyard with huge plots. Murdering helpless animals by destroying their habitat, and for what? To house a bunch of bodies that were already dead!!!

Oh wait, most religions are speciesist. Now it makes sense (insert eye roll smiley here)
 
I say put a couple divers down, gather the bodies, float them up, bring the divers back up, decom them for weeks....
 
How many divers does it take to find retrieve 73 bodies?
Any manned attempt is a huge risk to the divers and probably not worth it to all concerned.

Need a big chamber.

A dive to 110m for say 25 minutes is very very roughly over an hour and a half, two hours deco. However that increases exponentially as the minutes tick up so 30 minutes may be 5 hours deco. Its a big ship and a lot of bodies.
 
Some have estimated a $25 million cost for a salvage operation. I think in the end all they will end up doing is taking pictures from the ROV and monitoring the wreck periodically.
There is a lot of pissed off people in Tonga though. Especially as the king left on a four month holiday the day after the sinking.
 
why not just create a floating memorial for the cost there gonna spend and the risk of human lives it gives religious individuals a place to morn and no one dies for the dead.people pay heeps of money here for a green burial under a tree this is just a burial in a boat you go back to nature as tragic as it is no one should be going down there
 
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Ah yes, The wonderful "Gardens" next to Lynn Univ. It's all about the money the City of Boca could generate. It costs money to house the dead and the city has capitalized on it along with the sale of the land, the taxes, the secret behind the back real estate deal to the relative of the council member who sold the plot.

As far as this:

As for Mr Gordon's idea of "You could just tear the top part open. . . the bodies would just float up". While effective it is somewhat disrespectful and crude.

The pressure and temperature below about 40 meters will not allow the bodies to surface (unless they were wearing a PFD). Too cold for the fermentation process of the stomach contents and the break down of the internal organs. Sea Lice will finish the bodies along with other sea-life. The Sea-Lice will strip exposed areas of skin, leaving only the bone and tendons. Then the other life will move in.

A bit gruesome sorry, but it is what it is.
 
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That day rate is way way way off the current industry day rates for vessels capable of retrieving the bodies in that depth and there is no shortage of vessels at the moment or crews to man them. That price would afford the most modern luxurious MSV in a market with the highest demand. As to how many days it would take with prevailing conditions....however, for other reasons I don`t think its a bad price!
 
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