There is a "Duty to provide assistance at sea."
Within reason. A hippocratic oath. It would not apply broadly to unreachable vessels 2 and a half miles below the surface, excepting perhaps official navy or marine vessels with similar capabilities, or surface ships used as picket ships. Even then the navy would blink twice before sending sailors so far deep where the risk of further death would outweigh the likelihood of saving lives.
Rendering assistance to vessels in distress I have no problem with. The hyperbole surrounding the rescue attempt and saturation coverage of 5 deaths, comparably a drop in the bucket of daily death, and sensationalizing the novelty, is the concern. The challenger explosion in space was far more awful due it being an exploratory mission in a developing technology, and emotionally affected far more severely most americans. The sinking of the titan was provoked and enabled by for profit company oceangate, for either derring do or sightseeing, along with the profit motive.
A master or individual in charge of a vessel shall render assistance to any individual found at sea in danger of being lost, so far as the master or individual in charge can do so without serious danger to the master’s or individual’s vessel or individuals on board.
(2)Paragraph (1) does not apply to a vessel of war or a vessel owned by the United States Government appropriated only to a public service.
(b)A master or individual violating this section shall be fined not more than $1,000, imprisoned for not more than 2 years, or both.
barbara ann: I don't think there is a similar law for dry land.
Not even the police:
The U.S. Supreme Court has also ruled that police have no specific obligation to protect
Although the delayed police response at Uvalde school shooting revealed the repercussions for not.
OceanGate is unlikely to foot the bill for a rescue mission launched to find survivors among the five-man crew in the missing Titan submersible — and the operation is expected to cost millions of dollars..
Ret. Adm.. commanded Coast Guard to 2018 .. the underwater exploration company — which charges wealthy clients $250,000 each to see the wreckage of the Titanic — would likely not be required to reimburse the federal government.
“It’s no different than if a private citizen goes out and his boat sinks,”..“We go out and recover him. We don’t stick them with the bill after the fact.”
Call an ambulance to your home for a 'rescue attempt' to take you to hospital could cost a few hundred dollars, and then mere admission to the emergency room will cost $500 at the closest hospital near me, and likely a similar fee near yours.
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