Amateur adventurer Renata Rojas took a trip to the Titanic in OceanGate’s Titan submersible in 2022, and she was aboard Titan’s support ship last year when the sub and its crew were lost. Now she’s worried that the regulatory response to the tragedy will close off opportunities she and other citizen explorers have enjoyed.
Rojas fought back tears as she shared her concern today at a Coast Guard hearing that was aimed at determining the cause of Titan’s loss and formulating recommendations to avoid future tragedies.
“What we’ve all gone through is still very raw. Nothing is going to bring our friends back,” she told the investigators on the panel.
“I hope that this investigation creates an understanding that with exploration, there’s risk. And without taking that risk and the exploration, the world would still be flat,” she said. “I hope that innovation continues so we can make the oceans accessible to people like me who got to fulfill a dream, and that you still allow citizen scientists to participate in expeditions.”
