DYING FOR A THRILL
Titan just latest fatal adventure
The five explorers aboard the ill-fated Titan submersible joined a list of dozens of thrill-seekers who have died or vanished this year in the midst of some of the world’s most deadly pursuits.
At least 85 people have met their deaths or disappeared in 2023 while partaking in risky adventures such as climbing Mount Everest, descending the depths of the ocean or combating avalanches — and even less extreme hobbies like backcountry skiing or big-wave surfing.
Last week, the Coast Guard announced the presumed deaths of five explorers who died aboard OceanGate Expedition’s Titan submersible bound for the Titanic wreckage in the Atlantic Ocean.
Those aboard the vessel were identified as French Navy commander-turned-Titanic expert, “Mr. Titanic” Paul-Henri Nargeolet; billionaire explorer Hamish Harding; billionaire businessman Shahzada Dawood and his college student son, Sulaiman; and OceanGate CEO and founder Stockton Rush.
The victims, who ranged in age from 19 to 77, joined an already long list of adventurers killed so far this year.
Extreme danger
A near-record number of Mount Everest climbers has died or been presumed dead in 2023.
Each year, thousands venture to climb the highest mountain in the world, located on the border of Tibet and Nepal. Its peak reaches 29,029 feet above sea level.
Twelve trekkers have died this year while trying to dominate Everest, while at least five more remain missing.
According to reports, a handful of those killed or missing were Sherpas — members of a Himalayan ethnic group whose guides are known for helping other climbers reach the summit and complete their treacherous descents.
Rescuing the fallen trekkers, dead or alive, is itself a risky endeavor amid precarious and fragile ice, grueling temperatures and debilitating altitude sickness.
Guy Cotter, managing director of Adventure Consultants, told longtime climber Alan Arnette that helicopter rescues and equipment transports to the Everest camps occurred almost daily throughout this year’s climbing season, which has since ended.
“The number of rescues was unprecedented, with probably 200 flights to Camp 2 over the season,” Cotter told Arnette, in an article published on Arnette’s selfnamed website.
Mount Everest hasn’t seen as deadly a year since 2014. Nepal’s tourism director, Yuba Raj Khatiwad, attributed the high number of deaths to shifting weather conditions, The Guardian reported.
“The main cause is the changing in the weather. This season the weather conditions were not favorable, it was very variable,” he said. “Climate change is having a big impact in the mountains.”
While Everest is the highest peak, it’s certainly not the only mountain claiming lives. At least one person has died on Kangchanjunga, the world’s third-highest mountain, so far this year.
Luis Stitzinger, a German trekker, dared climb the 28,169 foot summit of Kangchanjunga in May without the help of additional oxygen to meet the high-altitude challenges, Al Jazeera reported. He successfully made it to the top but died during his descent.
The tenth-highest mountain, Annapurna I, claimed at least three lives, including that of world-renowned Irish trekker Noel Hanna, who also died after reaching the summit. Hanna in 2018 became the first person from Ireland to reach the top of Annapurna, the BBC reported.
Even smaller, less daunting mountains claim victims. Such might be the case for missing actor Julian Sands, who disappeared in January in the Mount Baldy in California’s San Gabriel Mountains.
Hikers recently discovered human remains in the wilderness near where the actor — who starred in such films as “A Room with a View” and “War- lock” — was last seen, cops said Saturday.
Police have not yet said if 65-year-old Sands was a match to the remains.
State and national parks are also not strangers to tragedy.
More than two dozen parkgoers have died so far this year — with several each reported in Lake Mead, Arches National Par and Grand Canyon parks.
Ken Phillips, a retired chief of emergency services who spent decades overseeing search and rescue operations in Grand Canyon National Park, previously told The Post the canyon saw 12 fatalities each year on average.
“Those can be from everything relating to heat stroke, lightning, drownings on the river, air crashes, suicides, accidental falls — all types of things,” he said.
Meanwhile, there have been a reported 28 deaths from avalanches in the US this year, according to data from the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.
Most recently, one backcountry tourer was killed and another survived after they were caught in an avalanche June 14 in California’s Hurd Peak.
Nine of this year’s avalanche victims were skiers, while eight were snowmobilers, the data show. Seven others were characterized as being climbers, snowshoers or hikers, and three were snowboarders. One victim’s activities at the time were not listed.
At least five surfers, including big-name athletes, died in separate incidents this year when they were overcome by all-encompassing waves.
Perhaps most notable was Brazilian surfing great Marcio Freire, who was killed in January while braving the massive swells off the Praia do Norte beach in Nazaré, Portugal. He was remembered as a “happy spirit” and a “legend,” The Guardian reported.