From Titan sub to Everest, dozens dead in pursuit of thrill

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 Everest, descending the depths of the ocean, combating avalanches — or even less extreme hobbies like backcountry skiing or big-wave surfing.

Last week, the US Coast Guard announced the presumed deaths of five explorers who died aboard the OceanGate Titan submersible bound for the Titanic wreckage at the depths of the Atlantic Ocean. 

Those aboard the vessel were identified as famed French Navy commander-turned-Titanic expert, “Mr. Titanic” Paul-Henri Nargeolet; billionaire explorer Hamish Harding; billionaire businessman Shahzada Dawood and his budding college student son, Sulaiman; and OceanGate Expeditions’ 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 in 2023. 

A near-record number of Mount Everest climbers have died or been presumed dead this year during the high-altitude trek.

Each year, thousands venture to climb Everest, the highest mountain in the world located between Tibet and Nepal. Its peak reaches 29,029 feet or 8,848 meters above sea level. 

Twelve trekkers have died this year while trying to dominate Everest, while at least five more remain missing.

A handful of those killed or missing were sherpas – guides tasked with helping other climbers reach the top and then complete their treacherous descents, according to reports. 

Rescuing the fallen trekkers, dead or alive, is a risky endeavor in and of itself amid precarious, fragile ice, grueling temperatures, traffic on the mountain 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 the 2023 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 self-named 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 “the changing in the weather,” 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.”

Speaking about a particularly complex rescue mission in 2017, Ang Tshering Sherpa, former president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, told the Kathmandu Post rescuers had “a 50/50 chance of survival.”

While Everest is the highest, 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 Germain trekker, dared climb the 28,169-foot 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 was the first person from Ireland to reach Annapurna’s summit when he did so in 2018, 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 San Gabriel Mountains of California’s Mt. Baldy.

Hikers just recently discovered human remains in the wilderness near where the longtime actor – who starred in flicks, such as “A Room with a View,” “Warlock” – was last seen, police said Saturday. 

Police have not yet said whether 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 Lead Mead, Arches National Park, and Grand Canyon.

Ken Phillips, a now-retired former chief of emergency services, spent decades overseeing searches and rescues within the Grand Canyon National Park, and 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 so far this year in the US alone, according to data compiled by the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.

Most recently, one backcountry tourer was killed and another survived after they were caught in an avalanche on June 14 in California’s Hurd Peak. 

Nine of this year’s avalanche victims were skiers, while eight were Snowmobilers, the data show. Seven total were characterized as being climbers, snowshoers or hikers, 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 legend Marcio Freire, who was killed in January while braving the massive swells of Nazaré, Portugal’s Praia do Norte.

Freire was remembered as a “happy spirit” and a “legend,” The Guardian reported. 

He was honored on Instagram by fellow surfer Nic von Rupp, who wrote: “He surfed all day with a big smile on his face. That’s how I’ll keep him in my memory.”