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Irish here, we only legalised abortion about a year ago and there were some harrowing stories that stuck with me during the ban that forced women to go aboard to seek healthcare.

Savita Halappanavar's story always stuck with me. In 2012, she went into hospital while she was 17-weeks pregnant and she was in a great amount of pain. She asked several times for her pregnancy to be terminated because she had severe back pain and was miscarrying. But her requests were refused because there was a foetal heartbeat. Her waters eventually broke as she was miscarrying, but some severe complications occurred and she ended up developing sepsis. She died a day later of cardiac arrest. She was only 31 years old, leaving her widowed husband behind. If doctors could have intervened earlier on Savita's request, this situation could have been avoided altogether.

I know people might have different opinions on abortion, and it's not the nicest topic to discuss. However, Savita (and many other women like her) were denied the appropriate healthcare that they needed and left to die of something that could have been prevented.

On the day it abortion was legalised, I went along to a vigil for Savita. It was bittersweet knowing that we'll never face a situation like this again but for Savita and her family, it was too late.

James Bulger. I grew up near where it happened, a bit later mind and it breaks my heart to think about. My heart goes out to the family.

I have to say this angers me. So much resources and attention to 5 people missing in the sea whilst just days ago hundreds of people died near the Greek coast and that includes children trapped inside of that doomed ship. Why do we care about billionaires more than we care about those poor children who didn’t actively choose to be there?

The chances of any rescue are incredibly slim. And whilst I feel sorry for their families who must be devastated, I think the whole affair is just overblown.

It’s of course very sad, but also sad that this is the story people are gripped on when hundreds of men, women and children have drowned in a boat on the Med this past week too. We seem (and I include myself in this) somewhat desensitised to asylum seekers and economic migrants drowning, and here we are discussing 5 billionaires drowning, in basically a tin can, on a vanity project.
whether or not they’re remains are ever found, their families should be donating massive sums to the search and rescue missions who’ve gone out to try and recover them. This was so fucking needless, and the press coverage is excessive IMO. It shouldn’t be headline news that 5 very wealthy men have drowned in a tin can, trying to get to the floor of the ocean.

For people who like visuals

You know who this calls for? Our leading diving expert Peter Faulding thats who.

I feel physically ill reading about this but honestly it needs to be a lesson.

The arrogance of humans never fails to amaze me. Commodifying the gravesite of 3000 people to the tune of $250,000 is repugnant, as is the complete disregard for safety and bored billionaires thinking every inch of this earth is their playground. What would possess you to attempt to go 13000 feet into the deep ocean in a glorified tuna tin? There are some things we have no business interfering with.

kev1974 said:

I just cannot comprehend having so much money that you're spending it on risky as hell things like this to interest or entertain yourself.

Surely at some point you say to yourself "right I can barely find anything to spend money on now so it's time to just sit back and stop earning so much"?

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I think it's similar to climbing Everest. These people are on their own, adrenaline filled, level. It also gives them something to talk about when they are making huge deals. It's also about being first to do something. Again, with Everest, the first climbers were in a much dangerous situation than current climbers although it does still carry a huge risk.

If I had that money, i'd be on my own island planting carrots and talking to my chickens

The Soham murders, Holly and Jessica. I remember only being a child and following it very avidly on the news.

Dear Squittel,

Please remember you are not on the submarine. You will never go on the submarine. You do not need to have an anxiety attack about the submarine. It’s very sad but you do not need to make yourself feel sick over this.

Thank you,

your brain
X

I can never forget the case of Daniel Pelka who was 6 and in the months leading up to his death he was severely beaten and starved by his mum and stepdad. He was so hungry he was caught stealing food from bins at school and apparently looked like a concentration camp victim, but nothing was done. Broke the heart reading about the case and I still get upset thinking about it now

Who was in the Nicola Bulley thread? I’m half expecting “Expert Peter Faulding” to turn up with his sonar.

Can't stop thinking about this. I'm personally not arsed ( in the sense of caring ) that these are rich people. We are all humans/sisters/brothers and its sad to think of my fellow man suffering.

The sad refugee story is nothing to do with the subject of this thread so not sure why it keeps getting brought up. It's very sad and people do care, but they are also interested in the Titanic sub which is what we are discussing here. It's not a case of caring about one and not the other and the media has a lot to answer for for what they choose to tell us. Let's not negate people for being interested in this story just because there are also other things going on in the world.

I was wondering how a prolonged period underwater may have affected the sub? Aside from implosion, is there a possibility of it slowly crushing under the pressure of the water if they really are 3000m down? It may be ok for a few hours but to spend days down there... It hardly looks hardwearing...

I've been following this story, and it's beyond scary thought of being stuck in the darkness.
I can't imagine how terrified they must be, you hope (for their sakes) that they had a quick and painless end.
The alternative is horrifying

Having said that, it's been my view for a very long time that whilst Titanic is a shipwreck, it is also a graveyard for the poor souls who lost their lives in 1912.
We have endless movies, documentaries and enough scientific knowledge of the ship.

It's high time we left the Titanic alone.

JarvisCockerSpaniel said:

Blobfish are a perfectly normal looking fish if they remain where they are supposed to

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Ahh I’m obviously just living at the wrong amount of pressure

I have every sympathy for those on board but my sympathy is slightly capped for the CEO Stockton Rush. He was told 5 years ago that the submersible wasn't safe and his reaction was to fire the employee on the spot and do nothing to act on the concerns.

It already fell outside of regulation, the least he could have done was accept constructive criticism where he could get it.

Shesaidwhat? said:

Brings a whole new meaning to the lyrics where are you? And I’m so sorry now

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He's at a concert, big smile plastered on his face, whilst stepdad is dying in the cold and dark. Yes I will judge and say that's fucking weird. I thought his message was not exactly that of an overly concerned stepson either.

And he didn't just go to a concert, he stuck it on social media too. WTF?

Upintheair83 said:

We should leave the Titanic alone now and respect the sea.

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I'm an amateur sailor, and one of the most insightful quotes I've ever received from my trainers is that "The ocean isn't actively trying to kill you, but it's aggressively indifferent to whether you survive or not."

Rags2Riches said:

Why not? 19 is a legal adult. Unless it’s found I don’t know how you could “sue” anyway. They signed a waiver, if it’s never found then how can you prove the exact cause of it was negligence?

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They had no right putting a 19 year old on the vessel, that is negligence in itself - even if they'd survived, there would probably have been some form of trauma. I doubt very much they were put through any psychological or physical examination or training the way you would if someone was going to space, for example - not that 19 is old enough to go into space, even! The only reason that they let him go down was because of his father's money.

I'm sick of the rich acting like the whole world is just their own personal playground.