# Cave Exploring Gone WRONG | The Veryovkina Cave Incidents

# https://www.youtube.com/watch/kNvfJYPYO60

00:00:00.529 Veryovkina Cave.

00:00:02.138 At 7,257 feet (2,212 m) deep,

00:00:05.173 Veryovkina Cave is the deepest cave on Earth.

00:00:08.300 The cave is so deep that it takes over four days

00:00:11.330 and thousands of feet of ropeto descend to its immense depth.

00:00:15.106 And certainly, what would the deepest cave bewithout a couple of horrifying incidents?

00:00:20.534 These are those stories.

00:00:23.063 [music]

00:00:31.529 On the border of Russia and Georgia

00:00:33.529 is a mountain range known as the Caucasus Mountains.

00:00:36.403 This mountain range is notable for a few reasons.

00:00:39.691 First, it's home to Europe's highest peak,Mount Elbrus at 18,500 feet (5,639 m).

00:00:45.234 Then, on the Western side of the region of Abkhazia

00:00:47.694 is a subrange of the Caucasus Mountainsknown as the Gagra Range.

00:00:51.396 There are some decent-sized mountainsin this area as well.

00:00:53.862 The highest among them is just over 11,000 feet(3,353 m),

00:00:56.529 but this area is notable for another reason.

00:00:59.426 The Gogra Range is primarily a limestone mountain range

00:01:02.553 carved out by rivers over its geological history.

00:01:05.749 The prehistoric rivers created a bunch of deep canyons

00:01:08.140 and the largest caves on Earth that are currently known.

00:01:12.164 In fact, the Gagra mountains are home tofour of the deepest caves anywhere on Earth

00:01:16.925 and the deepest of these is Veryovkina Caveat over 7,000 feet (2,314 m) deep.

00:01:21.410 For context, that's the same as stacking 23Statue of Liberties on top of one another.

00:01:27.459 The entrance to Veryovkina Caveis also located in an altitude of 7,500 feet (2,286 m),

00:01:32.427 meaning that you have to climb upa literal mountain to get to it.

00:01:35.876 Once you're up there, you're still surroundedby the rocky cliffs of the mountain ranges

00:01:39.463 and then in the middle of these cliffs

00:01:40.796 is a fairly unremarkable looking hole in the ground.

00:01:43.670 It's obvious that it's the entrance to a cave,

00:01:45.509 but you never expect it to descendfor over a mile into the Earth.

00:01:50.247 When the entrance was first discoveredin 1968 by a group of cavers,

00:01:53.811 they only descended down to a depth of377 feet (115 m) before returning to the surface.

00:01:59.124 Then in 1983, the cave was discovered for a second timeby a separate team of speleologists

00:02:04.322 from the Perovo Speleo Club from Moscow.

00:02:07.518 Over the next three years, a series of expeditionspushed the depth to around 1,400 feet (427 m)

00:02:12.279 but then for reasons that are unclear,

00:02:13.934 there were no more expeditions until the year 2000.

00:02:17.153 Work resumed again that year,but it would take all the way until 2015

00:02:20.786 to discover a new shaftthat would unlock the true depth of Veryovkina Cave.

00:02:25.708 By 2017, they extended the maximum depth of the cavefrom 1400 feet (427 m) all the way to 7,200 feet (2,194.5 m)

00:02:31.803 and mapped over 17 kilometers (10.6 miles)of tunnels and passages.

00:02:35.712 Then, finally in March of 2018,

00:02:37.712 the official deepest point of the cave was discovered

00:02:40.241 at the bottom of a subterranean lakewhere the cave meets the water table,

00:02:43.828 giving Veryovkina Cave a total depth of 7,257 feetor 2,212 meters.

00:02:52.845 Six months later in September,

00:02:54.385 the Perovo team returned once againto continue exploring the cave

00:02:57.926 and this time, they were joined by photographersRobbie Shone and Jeff Wade.

00:03:02.319 It was the same team of world-class caversfrom the Perovo club

00:03:05.630 that made all of the seminal descents of Veryovkina and of the other deep caves in the Gagra Mountain Range.

00:03:11.564 Led by team leader Pavel Demidov,

00:03:13.932 this expedition would be returningto the bottom of Veryovkina Cave

00:03:16.967 to collect samples of some of thepotentially undiscovered species

00:03:20.025 and explore some of the promising horizontal passagesat the bottom of the cave,

00:03:23.888 all while having Robbie and Jeffdocument the entire thing.

00:03:27.751 Now, in an ordinary cave of moderate depth

00:03:30.142 where you can descend and ascend in a single day,

00:03:32.533 you'd still be bringing a decent amount of equipment

00:03:34.625 because you need food and a bunch ofclimbing gear for every single person on the team.

00:03:38.787 In caves as large as Veryovkina Cave,

00:03:40.672 the descent is more similar to an expeditionthat you'd expect to see when climbing a tall mountain.

00:03:45.755 If you've ever watched anythingrelated to Mount Everest,

00:03:48.000 you may have heard of the multi-camp system.

00:03:50.414 These camps are established higherand higher up the mountain

00:03:52.897 to store food and gear and for the climbersto sleep and stay in between climbing.

00:03:57.497 For multi-day expeditions on a mountainor in a deep enough cave,

00:04:00.348 the amount of gear becomes way too muchto transport at a single time.

00:04:04.487 People have to climb up and down in advance to transport load after load of the necessary equipment

00:04:09.133 to ensure a safe attempt

00:04:10.972 and Veryovkina Cave is no different.

00:04:13.340 In fact, because of how deep it is,

00:04:14.972 it has a total of six campsat various depths on the way to the bottom.

00:04:20.101 From the entrance, climbers have to put onspecial clothing,

00:04:22.837 harnesses and helmets fixed with headlamps.

00:04:25.435 They then descend down thefirst shaft into the darkness

00:04:28.125 and move through a series of tight tunnels and passages

00:04:30.920 to reach the first camp at 2,000 feet (610 m).

00:04:34.264 This camp is a permanently installed camp where gear and equipment are stored year-round for emergencies.

00:04:39.807 Then, over the course of the next four days,

00:04:41.692 Robbie, Jeff and the Perovo Speleo Clubmade their way to camp 6,

00:04:45.670 all the way down at 6,900 feet (2,103 m).

00:04:49.142 On their way, the temperature wasjust a few degrees above freezing.

00:04:52.706 They crawled through mud and water,

00:04:54.384 impossibly tight squeezes and descended down100 foot (30.5 m) shaft over nothing but air.

00:04:59.789 The thousands of feet of ropesthat they used to make the descent

00:05:02.548 were their only means of transportation in and out.

00:05:06.687 Then, finally, they set footonto the flat, sandy camp 6

00:05:10.297 set up in a large horizontal tunnel.

00:05:12.665 This would be their homefor the remainder of the expedition.

00:05:16.344 Over the next three days, the team set out from their camp to complete all of the tasks they had intended.

00:05:21.657 One of these was to bring Robbie and Jeffto the lake that sits at the bottom.

00:05:25.543 When they got there, they were stunned to see this beautiful turquoise water surrounded by jet black limestone.

00:05:31.684 Lake is 50 feet long (15.24 m),25 feet (7.6 m) wide and is actually 28 feet (8.5 m) deep.

00:05:36.767 If not for the lights they brought,

00:05:38.330 it would sit there in complete darknessentirely without color.

00:05:42.515 On day seven, everything was still going according to plan.

00:05:44.998 And that day two of the members of the teamhad to leave early to catch a flight home.

00:05:49.598 When they got up to camp three,there was a ton of water pouring into the cave.

00:05:54.311 A massive storm up on the surface had caused a flood pulse to send thousands of liters of water rushing in.

00:06:00.958 Inside these caves, you can't really communicate wirelesslybecause of the thick layers of rock.

00:06:05.442 So instead, cavers have to run a physical linethe entire length of the cave to communicate.

00:06:11.054 The two team members immediately tapped into the cable to warn the others about the flood pulse headed their way.

00:06:16.367 Down at camp 6, they weren't all that worriedwhen they initially got the call.

00:06:20.368 Flood pulses are a common thingthat cavers have to worry about.

00:06:23.495 A single milliliter of rain is one liter per square meter,

00:06:26.944 meaning that a single square kilometer receives a thousand liters of water, if just a single milliliter of rainfall.

00:06:33.016 In heavy rain, that number is significantly higher.

00:06:36.304 All of this water then bursts down into cavesin equally huge volumes and can last for hours,

00:06:41.088 depending on the volume of rain and how long it rains for.

00:06:44.491 Again, they weren't all that worriedwhen they first got the call.

00:06:47.181 The Perovo group is world-class and their plan wasto monitor the water level and then plan accordingly.

00:06:52.425 Camp 6 had also been set upoff of the main vertical shaft

00:06:55.345 in what looked to be an areaaway from the flow of water.

00:06:58.587 It was also at 6,900 feet (2,103 m),

00:07:00.863 whereas the total depth was over 7,200 feet (7,194.5 m).

00:07:04.473 For the water to reach them, it would have to fill up 300 feet (91 m) of passages below them before it would reach them.

00:07:11.189 About half an hour after they received the call,

00:07:13.189 they heard the first sound of water approaching.

00:07:15.833 It started off as a faint rumbleand slowly grew like a train approaching.

00:07:20.064 By the time it was just about to reach the camp,

00:07:21.903 it was so roaring loudthat it was almost deafening.

00:07:25.605 The entire cave shooklike a constant earthquake was going on.

00:07:29.376 Robbie had just started breakfastwhen the noise really started

00:07:31.997 and he and the others rushed out of their tentsto see the approaching storm.

00:07:35.699 As they turned their headlights towards the vertical shaft,

00:07:38.251 a fire hose of water came pouring down.

00:07:41.217 Robbie stood there with his mouth openand almost dropped the food he was holding.

00:07:45.379 Not nearly as experienced as the Perovo team,

00:07:47.379 Robbie was really concerned by the volumeand speed of the water rushing in.

00:07:51.311 But again, the spot they were in was completely dry,

00:07:53.835 so he tried to stay calm like his Russian comrades.

00:07:57.376 About two hours into the floodingwith no signs of it slowing,

00:08:00.342 one of the team members noticed a gurgling soundcoming from a small hole near the tent.

00:08:05.080 He looked into the hole and couldn't see any water,

00:08:07.195 but he figured he should tell the team leader anyway.

00:08:09.954 Pavel agreed that this was a bit concerning,

00:08:11.954 so they decided to go and check out a nearby siphonto see how much the water table had risen.

00:08:17.152 They returned about five minutes laterand looked to the hole once again.

00:08:20.624 This time, not only could they see water,

00:08:22.785 but it was rising so fast,it was sloshing up around against the walls

00:08:26.671 and almost out of the hole.

00:08:28.671 The team member looked back at Robbie and Robbie sawthat his face had gone completely white.

00:08:33.524 Immediately, he knew that this meantthat they needed to leave and leave right away.

00:08:38.883 With the sound of water still almost deafening,

00:08:41.020 all hell broke loose in the camp.

00:08:43.297 No one expected to be leaving that daybut now, everyone was running around,

00:08:46.584 packing up essential gear.

00:08:48.768 Robbie and Jeff pulled on their latex suitsover their fleece base layer.

00:08:52.792 After that, they slipped on their abrasion-resistantnylon shells and harnesses.

00:08:57.139 Robbie then made the tough decision to leave allof his camera equipment and personal items.

00:09:01.739 Literally tens of thousands of dollars of equipment.

00:09:04.475 He knew he couldn't risk being slowed down,

00:09:06.314 or it could cost him his lifeor the life of one of his teammates.

00:09:10.061 He pulled all of the memory cards out of the cameras,

00:09:12.406 placed them in a ziploc bag,and then slipped them into his latex suit.

00:09:16.130 At the very least, he could saveall of the pictures he had taken.

00:09:19.326 With that, he called out to the othersthat he and Jeff would start their ascent

00:09:22.407 and then they started off with the vertical shaftout of the quickly flooding camp 6.

00:09:27.053 This would be the last interaction that they would havewith the Russians at camp 6.

00:09:31.561 The remaining members of the Perovo team would wait for the team leader Pavel before starting their ascent.

00:09:36.943 As Robbie and Jeff made their way to the vertical ropes,

00:09:39.288 they reached a narrow traverse,

00:09:40.782 almost like a bridge that went along one wall.

00:09:43.472 Prior to the flooding, the chamber beside the bridge was 60 feet (18. 3 m) deep

00:09:46.621 and 25 feet (7.6 m) wide of nothing but air.

00:09:49.751 Now, it was almost completely flooded,almost coming up over the side of the bridge.

00:09:54.558 At the end of this narrow traversewhere the vertical ropes end,

00:09:57.225 the source of the water pouring into the cave.

00:10:00.099 Robbie stepped into the waterfall,pouring down from the shaft,

00:10:02.535 and clipped his ascenders to the rope.

00:10:04.719 Then he put his head down,

00:10:06.000 took a deep breath,

00:10:07.126 and started making his way up the ropeas the water pummeled him from above.

00:10:11.565 The water was coming down so hard, it felt likeit was crushing and suffocating him.

00:10:16.004 It was literally as if his headwas being squashed into his shoulders.

00:10:20.489 Thankfully, he was able to tuck his chin,

00:10:22.236 which allowed the water to run off of his helmetand create a small air pocket for him to breathe.

00:10:26.882 Focusing on just the white rope directlyin front of his face,

00:10:29.503 he moved his ascenders up rhythmicallyas fast as he could.

00:10:33.343 Finally, he reached an area with a small outcropping

00:10:35.619 that he could step on and out of the waterfall to look up.

00:10:38.516 He saw that the rope was coming out of a shoulder-sizedhole in the rocks,

00:10:41.850 but this was also the source of the water.

00:10:44.356 Coming out of this little hole was a fire hose of waterthat seemed to take up the entire space.

00:10:49.554 He thought to himself that there was no way he was gonna be able to make it through that intense downpour.

00:10:54.430 At the same time, he couldn't just stop.

00:10:56.338 He was the lead climber.

00:10:57.763 Everyone else was coming up behind him

00:10:59.487 and there was no telling whatthe water was like down below.

00:11:02.522 He had to at least try to make it through.

00:11:05.028 When he got to the hole,

00:11:06.108 the force of the water was so strong

00:11:07.947 that he was only able to push his ascendersa couple inches at a time.

00:11:12.155 He finally made it through the squeeze and then realized that Jeff would have to do the same thing.

00:11:15.949 He had no idea whether or not Jeffwould be able to make it,

00:11:18.823 so he just kept climbing as high as he couldto get out of the way.

00:11:21.904 In his panic, he hadn't realized thatthis new section of the cave was mostly dry.

00:11:26.204 The water flowed down a different route to the squeeze,

00:11:28.641 so he was relatively safe where he was.

00:11:31.170 But because he was so full of adrenaline,

00:11:32.825 he was mindlessly climbing for his lifeas fast and as high as he could.

00:11:36.757 He only finally realized what he was doingwhen Jeff yelled out to him to slow down.

00:11:41.357 Snapping out of it, he stopped and waited for Jeffto catch up before they continued.

00:11:45.727 When Jeff reached him,his face was white, his eyes were wide,

00:11:49.128 but he exclaimed that they were at least alive.

00:11:51.956 The two of them silently wondered if the samecould be said for the Perovo team down below.

00:11:57.108 Robbie and Jeff eventually made it up to camp 5at 6,200 feet (1,890 m) where they waited,

00:12:01.455 hoping they would see the Russians any minute.

00:12:04.145 As the cave continued to shake around them,

00:12:05.869 they occasionally looked down over the edgeinto the abyss.

00:12:09.203 Miraculously, down below, they saw single headlampslowly making its way up the shaft.

00:12:14.585 When he was finally close enough,they realized it was Andrey.

00:12:17.941 After he climbed up into camp,they asked him if he had seen the others

00:12:20.838 and he just shook his head silently.

00:12:22.838 They all sat there,thinking about the worst-case scenario.

00:12:26.448 Down below, by the time Pavel had returnedfrom the siphon,

00:12:29.391 the bridge that Robbie and Jeff had walked acrosswas completely submerged.

00:12:33.461 The rest of the team members had to actuallyswim to reach the vertical ropes.

00:12:37.324 The last to swim out was Pavel

00:12:38.887 and as he was making his way out,the chamber had become a swirling vortex.

00:12:43.303 All of the water draining deeper into the cavehad turned into a giant whirlpool.

00:12:46.936 When he went through it, it spun him aroundand he had to swim hard to make it to the line.

00:12:51.674 By the time they were ascending, all of the deeper passages were completely submerged in water.

00:12:56.640 Then, 15 minutes after Andrey emerged,

00:12:58.985 five more lights could be seenmaking their way up the shaft.

00:13:02.940 One by one, all of the remaining members of the Perovo team made their way up to camp 5.

00:13:08.552 Robbie watched the ascend out of the flooded passageand couldn't believe how strong and capable they were.

00:13:13.497 One team member was even carrying a stoveand four sleeping bags attached to his harness.

00:13:18.396 He thought to himself how glad he wasthat it was him and Jeff that had gone first.

00:13:22.374 If they had been the ones to climb up last,

00:13:24.144 it's likely that they wouldn't have survived.

00:13:26.397 And then when they climbed up into camp,

00:13:28.167 they were quickly in the tent, having coffeeand laughing about the entire ordeal.

00:13:32.099 Robbie on the other hand,was still thoroughly freaked out.

00:13:35.042 For hours, he refused to take off his gearand kept looking down into the chasm

00:13:38.501 to see if the water was still rising.

00:13:41.007 200 feet (61 m) above them was a horizontal passage that they needed to pass to move higher into the cave.

00:13:46.320 Normally, it's already half-filled with waterand you have to crawl through it.

00:13:50.137 With all of the flooding,it was completely filled with water.

00:13:53.103 As long as the flooding continued,

00:13:54.505 they were trapped and just had to hope that the waterdidn't continue to rise higher.

00:13:59.381 Pavel reassured Robbie that they would waituntil morning to let the water clear.

00:14:03.037 And then over the course of the next 16 hoursat the camp,

00:14:05.474 the roaring of the water slowly died down.

00:14:08.348 The flood pulse ultimately lasted a total of 20 hours

00:14:11.061 and was the result of a week of rainfollowed by a single severe storm.

00:14:15.200 The week of rain had completely saturated the ground

00:14:17.637 so by the time the storm happened,the water poured relentlessly into Veryovkina Cave.

00:14:22.120 They later learned from a cab driver that the rain drops from the storm had been the size of nickels.

00:14:27.065 This was actually a good learning experience for the team.

00:14:29.065 They had previously been operating under the assumption that the cave only flooded in the wintertime.

00:14:34.355 Following the expedition, plans were put in placeto improve the surface monitoring to watch rain.

00:14:39.277 Another camp was installed in the lower chambers

00:14:41.346 to provide another escape point in the event of flooding.

00:14:44.266 And despite this expedition being cut short,

00:14:46.197 they had completed essentially everythingthey had set out to do.

00:14:49.508 New passages had been explored and mapped,

00:14:51.991 cave species had been sampled,

00:14:53.669 and although the camera equipment was destroyed,

00:14:55.853 all of the pictures were preserved.

00:14:58.244 But this wouldn't be the last accidentto ever occur in Veryovkina Cave.

00:15:04.155 Two years later in November of 2020,

00:15:06.385 some people exploring the areanoticed a rope fixed at the cave's entrance.

00:15:10.294 This is typically a big no-no in the caving world,

00:15:12.685 because then, anyone can access the caveand potentially get hurt or lost if they're unprepared.

00:15:18.504 Eight months later on August 4th, 2021,

00:15:20.826 the same Perovo team returned to continuetheir work in Veryovkina Cave.

00:15:24.781 They descended into the cave as they hadthree years earlier,

00:15:27.494 but then at 1300 feet (396 m),

00:15:29.067 they found a pair of crampons and an ice axe.

00:15:31.734 This didn't make sense.

00:15:33.435 This equipment couldn't have just fallen into the cavefrom the entrance.

00:15:36.700 There were no straight dropsto where the equipment was found.

00:15:39.620 This meant that someone had to have come into the caveand deep into the cave.

00:15:44.151 They continued further in, all the way to the permanent camp at 2000 feet (610 m).

00:15:48.451 Then, to the second camp at 3,200 feet (975 m).

00:15:50.773 And then all the way at 3,600 feet (1,097 m).

00:15:53.762 Halfway into the deepest cave on Earth,

00:15:56.153 they found the badly decomposed body of a man.

00:15:58.981 He was wearing camouflage overalls,

00:16:00.682 tracking boots, a helmet, he had two cell phones

00:16:03.830 and he was still attached to the rope that he had usedto descend into the cave.

00:16:07.808 By the looks of the decomposition,

00:16:09.256 he had been there for months.

00:16:11.716 Although he had no ID on himwhen he was found,

00:16:14.521 authorities were able to identify the man as 37-year-oldSergei Kozeev using a missing person's database.

00:16:20.892 Then, using the information from the cell phonesfound on him,

00:16:24.000 they were able to figure outwhat had happened that led to his death.

00:16:27.334 Sergei lived in the city of Sochi, Russia,

00:16:29.656 just East of the Russian border with Georgia

00:16:31.978 and about two hours from the entranceto Veryovkina Cave.

00:16:35.473 He was an avid outdoorsman and frequently went on solo expeditions to explore the wilderness.

00:16:40.694 On November 1st, 2020,

00:16:42.694 he said goodbye to his family as he always did when he was going on one of these solo expeditions

00:16:47.017 and then set off for the Gagra Mountains.

00:16:49.799 He also didn't tell them where he was going,

00:16:51.569 despite the fact that he was heading to a location that fewer people had set foot in than the international space station.

00:16:58.239 Based on the documents and screenshotsfound on his phone,

00:17:00.791 it seems that Sergei had spentalmost a year planning this trip.

00:17:04.585 He had printed out maps and materialsfrom the expeditions made by the Perovo team

00:17:08.608 specifically to navigate down into the cave.

00:17:11.345 First, he made the ascent up into the mountains, to the cave entrance using his crampons and ice axe.

00:17:16.152 Then, he fixed a rope to the openingand descended down into the darkness of Veryovkina Cave.

00:17:21.371 Using the information that he had gatheredfrom the Perovo team,

00:17:23.877 he hauled all of his equipment in three transport bags

00:17:26.429 through the tunnels and narrow passages.

00:17:29.134 Then, using a lattice descender,

00:17:30.881 he traveled down the massive vertical shaftsall alone.

00:17:34.606 He successfully made it to the first camp and then left some of the equipment later discovered by the Perovo team

00:17:39.850 and then proceeded almost directly to the second camp.

00:17:43.046 It was determined by the excrement found on site

00:17:45.207 that he lived at the second camp for about a weekbefore descending further into the cave.

00:17:49.807 From the second camp,things got a bit more challenging.

00:17:52.727 Beyond that camp, there are some larger and more technically challenging vertical shafts.

00:17:57.212 In addition, the cave becomes significantly wetterfrom that point onward.

00:18:01.351 As any caver knows, proper equipment is crucial.

00:18:04.754 The standard fleece underlayerwith a waterproof outer layer

00:18:07.720 is crucial to surviving the coldand wet subterranean environment.

00:18:11.767 It's unclear exactly what happenedin Sergei's last moment,

00:18:14.664 but it seems as though he realized that he wouldn't be able to descend any further through the water

00:18:18.539 with the equipment he had.

00:18:20.483 At which point, he would've tried tomake his way back up the cave,

00:18:23.265 but because he had already descendedinto a technically challenging area,

00:18:26.714 he was unable to get back out.

00:18:29.059 Sergei had brought ascenders for his hands,but he didn't have any stirrups for his feet,

00:18:33.359 meaning that he had no footholdsfor any of the long vertical shafts.

00:18:37.752 He must have tried and triedto make his way out of the cave

00:18:40.258 but between the exhaustion and the cold,

00:18:42.120 he eventually laid down to sleepone last time and never woke up.

00:18:46.397 Upon finding his body,

00:18:47.776 The parade team went back up to the surfaceand alerted authorities.

00:18:51.340 Due to the difficulty of the cave and the depththat Sergei's body was found at,

00:18:54.766 it would take a team of over a hundred individualsto eventually retrieve it.

00:18:59.251 It's also particularly risky to be in a confined spacelike a cave with a decomposing body

00:19:03.874 because the gas that's given offfrom the decomposition process

00:19:06.682 can build up and become toxic at high enough levels.

00:19:10.544 Despite how many people were involved in the rescue,

00:19:12.636 they still ended up having to cut Sergei into pieces

00:19:15.556 to successfully remove him from the cave.

00:19:18.614 After his retrieval,his body was finally returned to his wife and kids in Sochi.

00:19:23.856 For now, Veryovkina Cave is the deepest cave on Earth.

00:19:27.696 But the Earth is a big place

00:19:29.190 and caves are not nearly as readily viewableas their mountain counterparts.

00:19:33.721 Veryovkina Cave was only crowned the deepest in 2018.

00:19:37.331 It remains to be seen whether it will holdits place as the deepest on Earth.

00:19:43.265 Hello everyone.My name is Sean and welcome to Scary Interesting.

00:19:46.139 If you made it this far,I just wanted to thank you for watching.

00:19:49.105 This is part 10 of the ongoing seriesCave Exploring Gone Wrong

00:19:52.991 so you may wanna check out the other videosin the series.

00:19:56.003 If you enjoyed this video, I'd really appreciate itif you gave it a like.

00:19:58.923 That helps out with the YouTube algorithm. 

00:20:01.245 And once again, thank you so much for watching

00:20:03.475 and hopefully, I will see you in the next one.

# tactiq.io free youtube transcript

# The Mine Disaster UNDER The Ocean

# https://www.youtube.com/watch/uH0W5AK4bwI

00:00:00.760 this is the Levant mine also nicknamed

00:00:04.160 the mine under the sea it was first

00:00:07.000 opened in 1820 and would eventually

00:00:08.880 reach 2,000 ft deep into the Earth but

00:00:11.960 also a full mile underneath the Atlantic

00:00:15.240 Ocean I'm sure you can imagine what

00:00:17.520 might happen if one of those tunnels

00:00:19.119 were to fail incredibly that isn't even

00:00:22.199 the worst of the conditions within this

00:00:24.720 is the story of the lant Mind disaster

00:00:27.560 as always fewer discretion is advised

00:00:37.890 [Music]

00:00:43.480 there are a lot of jobs today that are

00:00:45.000 stressful for one reason or another some

00:00:47.600 are just exhausting or emotionally

00:00:49.120 draining but the number of jobs that are

00:00:50.800 truly life-threatening pales in

00:00:52.879 comparison to a couple hundred years ago

00:00:55.760 while some of the improvements can be

00:00:57.280 credited to new safety technology and

00:00:59.039 better training the the real reason

00:01:00.600 things have gotten much better is

00:01:02.079 legislation because no matter how many

00:01:04.080 injuries something might prevent there's

00:01:05.640 nothing quite like the threat of legal

00:01:07.479 action to get a business to actually pay

00:01:09.240 for safety equipment and mandate its use

00:01:12.000 mining in particular has never been an

00:01:13.560 easy job and still isn't however it's a

00:01:15.400 lot better with things like electricity

00:01:17.080 forced air flow hydraulic motors and

00:01:19.280 geological tools that can actually test

00:01:21.079 how safe it is to dig somewhere people

00:01:23.320 working just a couple hundred years ago

00:01:25.079 though didn't have access to most or all

00:01:27.119 of those

00:01:28.040 things one of these Minds was known as

00:01:30.520 the Levant mine and was located on the

00:01:32.399 very far Southwestern tip of England it

00:01:34.960 opened in 1820 and was primarily a

00:01:36.799 copper mine but also extracted tin and

00:01:38.720 smaller amounts of arsenic at the time

00:01:41.360 copper and Tin were about to become very

00:01:43.000 important and very lucrative since they

00:01:44.520 could be used to make brass and bronze

00:01:46.640 but for the people working there the

00:01:48.360 conditions deep in the mind were nothing

00:01:49.880 short of

00:01:51.240 horrific reaching down about 600 M or

00:01:54.439 2,000 ft below the Earth the Levant mine

00:01:56.840 was Pitch Black scorching hot and parts

00:01:59.119 of it stretched hor horizontally a whole

00:02:00.880 mile underneath the Atlantic Ocean and

00:02:04.360 practically begging fate one of the M

00:02:06.360 shafts named 40 backs was as little as

00:02:08.560 12 M or 40 ft from the seabed above if

00:02:12.000 that tunnel had ever failed the mine

00:02:13.480 would have filled with water too quickly

00:02:15.000 for anyone in the lower levels to escape

00:02:17.640 but even without the threat of suddenly

00:02:19.120 drowning quite literally looming

00:02:20.560 overhead the rest of the mine was no

00:02:22.120 less forgiving with temperature

00:02:24.400 sometimes reaching 40° C or over 100 F

00:02:27.319 many of the miners were forced to work

00:02:28.720 almost naked to avoid passing out from

00:02:30.519 heat stroke some didn't even wear work

00:02:32.680 boots because they would faill with

00:02:33.840 sweat which would then put them at risk

00:02:35.160 of trench foot and all of this would

00:02:37.319 have been done in total darkness if not

00:02:39.319 for one thing before entering the mine

00:02:41.599 every day the workers would collect a

00:02:43.200 handful of clay from a pile on the

00:02:44.720 surface and use it to stick a candle on

00:02:46.879 top of their heads or in later decades

00:02:48.560 onto their helmets since each man needed

00:02:51.200 both hands to work climb and use their

00:02:52.879 tools lanterns weren't a possibility and

00:02:54.879 the mines were too massive to hang

00:02:56.280 lights along every passage and keep them

00:02:58.080 all fueled so as strange as it looked

00:03:00.720 this was the only real way to see

00:03:02.319 anything down there of course this came

00:03:04.680 with a whole new set of problems too

00:03:06.560 candles would regularly blow out during

00:03:08.080 work and would need to be relit so men

00:03:09.799 carried matches in waterproof brass

00:03:12.120 containers but incredibly even that is

00:03:14.920 just the start of it each day hundreds

00:03:17.640 of men would climb down into the mine

00:03:19.280 through one of its shafts with 80

00:03:21.080 ladders between them and the bottom

00:03:22.680 level once they were down there they'd

00:03:24.599 use hand drills to dig thin channels

00:03:26.400 into the Rock about a foot and a half

00:03:27.799 deep to fill with gunpowder a fuse would

00:03:30.480 then be set and the tunnel would be

00:03:31.640 cleared while the men waited for the

00:03:32.959 explosion to shatter the next couple

00:03:34.599 hundred Ft worth of stone afterwards

00:03:36.920 they'd go back in and clear the debris

00:03:38.360 with hand tools more delicate areas on

00:03:40.879 the other hand were done entirely using

00:03:42.400 hand tools and after the miners passed

00:03:44.000 through other teams would bring logs and

00:03:45.560 wooden planks in behind them to shore up

00:03:47.280 the passageway then repeat the process

00:03:49.120 all over again all the while hundreds of

00:03:52.000 tons of stone and ore need to beheld

00:03:53.879 kilometers back to the m shafts every

00:03:55.640 day where they could be lifted up and

00:03:56.959 processed this involved using several

00:03:59.239 hundred lound mine carts pulled by

00:04:00.720 horses and mules accustomed to working

00:04:02.840 underground to make things worse and

00:04:04.920 even more tiring than they already sound

00:04:06.720 at the end of a full days work men still

00:04:08.439 need to climb back up and out of the

00:04:09.959 mine up the 80 flights of ladders if

00:04:11.799 they were at the very bottom this

00:04:13.920 process could take a full hour and a

00:04:15.519 half not to mention the walk back to

00:04:17.120 their hometowns afterward and to add

00:04:19.238 insult to injury the possible 3 hours a

00:04:21.279 day spent climbing ladders wasn't paid

00:04:23.199 time you were only on the clock when you

00:04:25.440 actually got to your floor of the mine

00:04:26.759 for one of the three 8h hour shifts each

00:04:28.800 day except sunnday day all things

00:04:31.400 considered the Levant mind certainly

00:04:32.880 sounds like one of the worst jobs a

00:04:34.320 person could have but despite this

00:04:36.320 between 300 and 700 people worked the

00:04:38.440 mine most years about 2third of them

00:04:40.840 underground the remainder on the surface

00:04:43.039 included many women children and men

00:04:44.960 with injuries that kept them from

00:04:46.240 working down below their jobs were to

00:04:48.479 break up the ore into two fist-sized

00:04:50.080 chunks with hammers and sort of by type

00:04:51.880 for processing and those who did work

00:04:54.120 down below could be as young as 14

00:04:55.960 included many people who were desperate

00:04:57.600 and couldn't find work elsewhere it also

00:04:59.919 wasn't uncommon for exhausted men to

00:05:01.680 fall from the ladders at the end of

00:05:02.960 their work days and even more injuries

00:05:04.919 were caused by loose gunpowder wafting

00:05:06.680 into the air and igniting on the

00:05:08.080 worker's candles blinding them or

00:05:09.639 setting off premature explosions

00:05:12.120 afterward men who are unconscious or too

00:05:13.680 injured to make the climb back up would

00:05:15.039 be hauled up with ropes or later on one

00:05:16.919 of these skips which were a pair of

00:05:18.639 buckets that had their own dedicated

00:05:20.000 shaft for lifting Stone and ore out of

00:05:21.680 the

00:05:22.280 mines by 1840 engines were starting to

00:05:25.080 become a little more common began to be

00:05:26.440 used in the mine and this is how those

00:05:27.759 skips were powered basically these two

00:05:30.440 buckets moved along vertical trucks

00:05:32.080 inside of a m shaft with a cable linking

00:05:34.039 both of them over a pulley at the top so

00:05:36.360 when one went down the other came up

00:05:38.520 this meant the steam engine powering

00:05:39.960 them only need to generate enough power

00:05:41.479 to move the ore itself and not the skips

00:05:43.560 since they would counterbalance one

00:05:45.160 another then in 1857 37 years into the

00:05:48.360 M's operation there was another new

00:05:50.240 innovation a new system was installed

00:05:52.360 for the workers to get in and out of the

00:05:53.880 mine this new system would come to be

00:05:56.000 known as a man engine a man engine was

00:05:59.199 like a vertical conveyor belt or lift

00:06:01.080 system with platforms for menant to

00:06:02.520 stand on it required that a,t wooden rod

00:06:06.120 be inserted into the M shaft then every

00:06:08.919 12 ft there was a little wooden platform

00:06:10.880 attached to this rod and a handlebar at

00:06:12.599 chest height then at the top of this Rod

00:06:14.960 at the surface there was an engine which

00:06:16.599 lifted the rod up 12 ft and then lowered

00:06:18.599 it back down 12 ft so the miners would

00:06:21.120 wait for the platform to come down step

00:06:22.720 onto it and be raised up 12 ft then at

00:06:25.479 the highest point they would step off

00:06:26.800 onto a platform attached to the m shaft

00:06:28.560 wall then they wait for the next

00:06:30.360 platform to come back down before

00:06:31.800 stepping back on and repeating the

00:06:33.280 process 137 more times to reach the

00:06:35.840 surface from the very bottom now

00:06:38.440 obviously this sounds insane and it was

00:06:40.400 but when the alternative was to climb 80

00:06:42.400 ladders back to back it's also easy to

00:06:44.240 see why the workers were actually happy

00:06:45.960 about the new machine compared to the

00:06:48.000 hour and a half climb up the ladders the

00:06:49.400 man engine only took half an hour and

00:06:51.120 was a lot safer for the exhausted miners

00:06:52.880 in the long run though the danger of

00:06:55.039 missing a step and falling was still

00:06:56.520 there it was an improvement for 1857 and

00:06:58.960 even some reduced rates of long and

00:07:00.520 heart issues and extended average

00:07:02.080 lifespans for workers in Minds that had

00:07:04.039 them and thanks to a series of Gears the

00:07:06.479 engine was able to move the full 24 ton

00:07:09.000 weighted loaded rod with only 30 lb of

00:07:11.120 steam pressure per square in so

00:07:13.720 regardless of how unusual it seemed the

00:07:15.680 man engine really was an improvement on

00:07:18.440 the other hand the problem was that

00:07:20.199 already by the 1850s the first

00:07:22.240 recognizable modern elevators had begun

00:07:24.160 to be used and even among similar man

00:07:26.479 engines the lant man engine was sort of

00:07:28.400 primitive it only used one moving Rod as

00:07:30.879 opposed to two which effectively doubled

00:07:32.520 the time it took to reach the top or

00:07:33.759 bottom because half the time was spent

00:07:35.240 waiting on stationary Ledges instead of

00:07:37.360 stepping to a second moving Rod

00:07:39.599 additionally it used a type of engine

00:07:40.840 that could be choppy and unreliable This

00:07:43.080 was later replaced in 1893 but by then

00:07:45.520 the man engine was practically ancient

00:07:47.000 technology anyway but despite this it

00:07:49.960 continued to be used for almost another

00:07:51.800 30 years by 1919 62 years of constant

00:07:56.080 use had worn down components rotted wood

00:07:58.240 and heat and moisture of the M shaft and

00:08:00.000 put the machine under the stress of

00:08:01.400 millions of repetitions carrying as many

00:08:03.159 as 130 people at a time hundreds of

00:08:06.000 individual parts were replaced over the

00:08:07.319 years but finally it was too much

00:08:10.000 anyway on October 20th that year the

00:08:12.720 morning shift was winding down and

00:08:14.039 miners were packing up and starting to

00:08:15.479 make their way back to the surface

00:08:16.720 around 300 p.m. many of them had just

00:08:19.479 survived World War I only to return home

00:08:21.680 to a struggling economy in few ways to

00:08:23.560 support their families time and time

00:08:26.000 again those men and the workers before

00:08:27.759 them had told management that the man

00:08:29.280 engine wasn't safe it was rickety and

00:08:31.520 the partch shuted as it moved many of

00:08:33.360 The Landings and steps had also been

00:08:34.760 eaten away and not properly repaired but

00:08:36.880 management declined to do anything about

00:08:38.760 it replacing the engine would cost a lot

00:08:41.080 of money and while there were plans to

00:08:42.519 dig a new vericle shaft and install

00:08:44.159 something a little more modern work had

00:08:45.760 yet to even begin by then the mine

00:08:48.279 employed 331 people with 187 of them

00:08:51.200 working below ground and as more and

00:08:53.440 more people filed onto the little wooden

00:08:55.360 steps filling it nearly to capacity just

00:08:57.800 18 in from the top of the the stroke as

00:08:59.880 most men were getting ready to step off

00:09:01.680 there was a

00:09:02.920 bang this was the sound of a bracket

00:09:05.320 connecting the top beams to the rod that

00:09:06.880 had been wearing down for 5 years since

00:09:08.720 it was last replaced in a single moment

00:09:11.560 it broke away and the tht rod and all

00:09:14.240 the men began to

00:09:15.720 fall near the very top of the shaft the

00:09:18.320 men disappeared screaming as the only

00:09:20.399 thing that they had to hold on to

00:09:21.560 plummeted back into the M shaft as it

00:09:24.320 did it bent and buckled breaking through

00:09:26.360 the catch wings that were supposed to

00:09:27.560 keep it in place so after dropping the

00:09:29.880 first 12 ft and slamming into the bottom

00:09:31.640 of the M shaft the top 300 ft of the rod

00:09:34.399 broke off and continued to fall on its

00:09:36.399 own men farther down the engine began to

00:09:38.880 realize something was happening and

00:09:40.079 could hear what seemed like an avalanche

00:09:41.800 of stone and wood coming down toward

00:09:43.880 them as the platform shook under their

00:09:46.240 feet and started to slide dozens of

00:09:47.839 workers leapt onto the nearest ledge or

00:09:49.519 The Landings of different floors if they

00:09:51.079 could others just held on for their life

00:09:53.560 and found themselves sliding down level

00:09:55.360 after level into the dark as this

00:09:57.760 happened their candles were blown up by

00:09:59.120 by the sudden movement and the shaft was

00:10:00.680 filled with the crashing sounds of Rock

00:10:02.519 all around as the rod buckled and dug

00:10:04.399 into the wall of the M shaft causing a

00:10:06.040 partial

00:10:07.040 cave-in then a moment later the dust

00:10:09.440 began to settle and the rumble of stone

00:10:11.600 and metal was replaced with silence for

00:10:13.240 a moment and then with the growing cries

00:10:16.279 of men trapped calling for help many of

00:10:19.040 them separated from one another and

00:10:20.480 nearly all in total

00:10:22.560 darkness after the rod plummeted from

00:10:24.720 the surface the 300t piece that had

00:10:26.880 broken off fell almost another 300 feet

00:10:29.360 shattering wooden beams and landings

00:10:31.000 along the way before finally piercing

00:10:32.839 the shaft wall and coming to a stop in

00:10:35.600 doing so it had also completely blocked

00:10:37.399 the tunnel by taking out so many of the

00:10:39.399 sports then down below the rest of the

00:10:41.839 rod had buckled but mostly remained in

00:10:43.639 place trapping the men on it deep

00:10:46.320 underground back at the top of the Mine

00:10:48.320 Workers knew something had gone wrong

00:10:49.800 but not what or how bad it was one of

00:10:52.440 the few dozen workers who had just made

00:10:53.920 it to top when the break happened a man

00:10:55.680 named John grenfell volunteered to climb

00:10:57.600 back down into the shaft and see what

00:10:58.839 had happened and almost immediately he

00:11:01.200 came across a group of dead and injured

00:11:03.079 who were Twisted between the wooden

00:11:04.480 beams and rocks that completely sealed

00:11:06.240 the tunnel horrifyingly Jon's father was

00:11:09.440 one of the site managers and he was one

00:11:11.200 of the missing somewhere down below

00:11:13.680 following the disaster the emergeny call

00:11:15.399 went out as fast as people could carry

00:11:16.959 it few if any places in that part of

00:11:19.120 England had telephones at the time but

00:11:20.680 as word spread off-duty miners came and

00:11:22.639 droves from nearby towns and hundreds

00:11:25.160 more from neighboring mines like the

00:11:26.440 gerer mine and the East pool mine would

00:11:27.920 also come to help friends family

00:11:30.200 reporters and others all arrived with

00:11:32.040 them on the first day and then later

00:11:34.560 once the rescue was underway trying to

00:11:36.279 save as many as they could was grueling

00:11:37.800 work because the shaft had been so badly

00:11:40.120 damaged every rescuer had to be winched

00:11:41.959 down into it on a rope there they would

00:11:44.399 tie ropes around each and every piece of

00:11:46.079 debris lifting it up and out of the way

00:11:47.720 while trying not to destabilize the

00:11:49.160 shaft or cause more to fall all of the

00:11:51.720 stone and wood that could weigh hundreds

00:11:53.279 of pounds need to be pulled up to clear

00:11:54.880 the way to the survivors and this would

00:11:56.399 go on for days on end and obviously

00:11:59.079 those trapped Down Below had their own

00:12:01.480 challenges after reling their candles if

00:12:04.079 they still had them over a hundred men

00:12:05.839 did their best to regroup many still had

00:12:08.639 emergency ladders on their levels which

00:12:10.040 hadn't been knocked out and were able to

00:12:11.279 move around still but there wasn't any

00:12:12.800 chance of going up instead they gathered

00:12:15.199 everyone they could and helped the

00:12:16.320 injured walk to the skip shaft and the

00:12:18.120 water pumping shaft each of these was

00:12:20.360 also equipped with emergency ladders and

00:12:21.920 went the full distance to the surface so

00:12:24.440 2 hours after the collapse to the shock

00:12:26.320 and relief of The Rescuers men from the

00:12:28.120 bottom of the shafts began appearing out

00:12:29.600 of the engine rooms and or processing

00:12:31.880 building then incredibly as exhausted as

00:12:34.519 they were from a full day's work and

00:12:36.000 then an unexpected climb nearly all of

00:12:38.160 them joined the rescue effort still by

00:12:41.000 then over 50 of their friends and

00:12:42.680 co-workers were missing somewhere down

00:12:44.680 below in the end it would take three

00:12:47.040 whole days of digging winching and

00:12:48.800 crawling through partially clapped

00:12:50.040 tunnels to rescue all the survivors but

00:12:52.399 the process was slow and on many

00:12:54.000 occasions they weren't able to reach

00:12:55.399 those calling for help before they fell

00:12:57.199 silent among the Dead sadly was John's

00:13:00.560 father the Levant mine and its workers

00:13:03.279 all came from small towns and Villages

00:13:05.800 everyone knew everyone there and each

00:13:07.519 death was a friend or family member over

00:13:09.920 the course of 3 days of constant rescue

00:13:11.760 effort the death toll Rose to 31 14 were

00:13:15.240 found near the top of the pile at about

00:13:16.680 150 ft deep most of the rest were

00:13:18.880 between 160 and 320 ft and the final

00:13:21.880 three were found at 420 ft 480 ft and

00:13:25.639 660 ft deep these three were all as a

00:13:29.240 result of being struck by Falling

00:13:31.199 debris among these tragedies were also

00:13:33.800 many survivors a boy named William Lowry

00:13:36.720 who was only 14 years old spent 15 hours

00:13:39.240 trapped beneath the body of another

00:13:40.440 minor near the top of the pile before

00:13:42.079 being rescued he was actually the first

00:13:44.360 to be pulled out had a snapped collar

00:13:45.839 bone eight broken ribs and needed 36

00:13:48.040 stitches to his face and head but would

00:13:49.720 later make a full

00:13:51.320 recovery another man named Nicholas

00:13:53.639 Thomas held on for a whole 50 hours only

00:13:56.320 to pass away from exhaustion after he

00:13:58.000 was rescued on the way up to the surface

00:14:00.920 tragically five of the men killed had

00:14:02.680 survived the first world war to get

00:14:04.279 there and nearly everyone in the county

00:14:05.920 knew someone who died this was

00:14:07.959 devastating for the local communities in

00:14:10.480 addition to those who passed away 19

00:14:12.399 miners suffered serious injuries of some

00:14:14.360 kind and not all of them were physical a

00:14:16.880 minor named Ralph Ellis was a veteran of

00:14:18.680 World War I whose Foster father was

00:14:20.399 among those who was killed in the

00:14:21.759 disaster the next year in 1920 Ralph was

00:14:24.800 one of the first to arrive another minor

00:14:26.360 accident which resulted in the deaths of

00:14:27.720 four others

00:14:29.240 this was the final straw for Ralph and

00:14:31.079 afterward he suffered a break and was

00:14:32.800 never the same an investigation

00:14:35.440 following the claps found that the

00:14:36.800 bracket at the top of the rod which had

00:14:38.279 broken was improperly made the metal had

00:14:41.000 internal faults and that led to the

00:14:42.600 controversial decision to label the

00:14:44.199 event an accident this removed all

00:14:46.320 liability from the owners despite the

00:14:48.199 fact that no other mind in all of

00:14:49.800 Cornwall was still using a man engine

00:14:51.600 except the Levant all of the rest had

00:14:54.040 moved over to more modern safer systems

00:14:57.440 this then left the families involved

00:14:59.000 without any financial compensation and

00:15:00.839 many were forced to move out as they

00:15:02.240 became unable to afford the rent of

00:15:03.639 their houses to try and offset things a

00:15:06.160 disaster fund was set up and people

00:15:07.560 throughout the entire County contributed

00:15:09.240 hoping to raise

00:15:10.639 £15,000 the mines insurance company even

00:15:13.079 paid out without the owners being found

00:15:14.519 criminally responsible and support and

00:15:16.079 donations poured in from officials news

00:15:18.000 organizations and local businesses an

00:15:20.480 anonymous author even wrote a poem about

00:15:22.160 the disaster sold for 2 p each to

00:15:24.199 contribute to the fund but it could only

00:15:26.160 stretch so far and obviously couldn't

00:15:28.040 bring anyone back the mine itself

00:15:30.600 continued for a few years until 1930 but

00:15:32.639 it was a shadow of its former self the

00:15:35.120 price of tin in the postwar economy and

00:15:36.880 then the 1930s depression made it

00:15:38.480 impossible for the man engine to be

00:15:40.000 replaced with a more modern system in

00:15:42.440 1967 the mines beam engine came into the

00:15:44.800 care of the National Trust which is a

00:15:46.360 conservation agency and was maintained

00:15:48.000 as a historical piece other parts of the

00:15:50.480 mine have been gradually rebuilt on the

00:15:52.040 surface or brought back into working

00:15:53.839 condition as historical pieces the

00:15:56.160 Levant mine remains open to the public

00:15:58.199 to the day but the underground portion

00:16:00.120 is firmly sealed

00:16:01.839 shut if you made it this far thanks so

00:16:04.240 much for watching if you have a story

00:16:05.680 suggestion feel free to submit it to the

00:16:07.319 form found in the description and

00:16:09.000 hopefully I will see you in the next one

# tactiq.io free youtube transcript

# The Most DANGEROUS Dive Site on Earth | Diving Gone Wrong

# https://www.youtube.com/watch/RM_SH1Heo_E

00:00:00.280 This is the Blue Hole in the Red Seain the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt.

00:00:05.520 It's one of many of these blue holesaround the globe,

00:00:07.880 but this one is considered to beby far the most dangerous.

00:00:11.560 And as I'm sure you'll see,

00:00:12.720 this is only highlighted by some of thehorrifying incidents that have taken place here.

00:00:17.280 As always, viewer discretion is advised.

00:00:21.520 [music]

00:00:32.520 This is Tarek Omar.

00:00:34.960 Professionally, he's a technical diver and instructor.

00:00:38.200 Unofficially, he's nicknamed the "Bone Collector".

00:00:41.200 He's also been called the "Grave Keeper",

00:00:43.038 and the grave or cemetery that he keeps is theBlue Hole in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt.

00:00:48.640 The Blue Hole is one of the most popular dive siteson Earth for both novice and expert divers.

00:00:53.880 It's also thought to be the single deadliestdive site on the planet.

00:00:58.080 Over the years, it's estimated that at least130 people have lost their lives diving the hole,

00:01:02.400 but some estimates put the figure at over 200.

00:01:05.840 On top of that, since no official recordshave been kept, no one is really sure exactly.

00:01:10.200 It could be significantly higher still.

00:01:12.839 Since the late '90s, Tarek has beeninvolved in the majority,

00:01:15.640 if not all, of the body recoveriesthat have been performed.

00:01:18.560 And although this isn't all of the over a hundreddivers who've lost their lives here,

00:01:22.160 it's still enough that he's lost count.

00:01:24.360 After two decades of making the recoveries,the only names that he remembers

00:01:27.680 are the first two that he ever recovered,shortly after coming to the nearby city.

00:01:32.040 They were Martin Gara and Conor O'Regan.

00:01:35.560 In 1997, Martin traveled from Ireland to Egyptto spend the year working as a dive instructor,

00:01:40.360 taking advantage of all the great spotsthis area has to offer.

00:01:44.000 Part of the way through the year,his friend, Conor, joined

00:01:46.120 so that the two of them could finish outthe rest of the year together.

00:01:48.760 Conor was most of the way through the final phaseof becoming an instructor as well,

00:01:51.560 so both men were quite experiencedas well as considered to be

00:01:54.000 careful and meticulous diversby the people who knew them.

00:01:57.160 They also both loved diving so muchthat this trip was sort of like a test run

00:02:00.400 for some big plans they had uponreturning to Ireland.

00:02:03.560 The two of them planned to scope out the areaso they can then set up a travel agency

00:02:07.080 that would specialize in overseas dive tours.

00:02:09.800 In November of that year, about a monthin advance of them heading home,

00:02:12.360 they both went to visit the famous Blue Holedive spot to do some diving.

00:02:15.880 This trip was part of a larger trip made by PADI,which is a worldwide diving organization,

00:02:20.210 so a bunch of other trained and professional diverswere on the trip as well.

00:02:23.680 At some point during the dive, Martin and Conorwere separated from the rest of the group,

00:02:27.080 and so they were alone with no one elsearound them.

00:02:29.440 Somehow, when they got separated,

00:02:31.120 they accidentally went too deep for the gas mixturethey were using.

00:02:33.880 This caused them both to lose consciousness,

00:02:35.920 which then caused their regulatorsto fall out of their mouths,

00:02:38.600 and then they sank to 65 meters or 213 feet.

00:02:43.200 All of the other divers only realizedwhen everyone was on the surface,

00:02:46.120 and the two men were late for thescheduled return time.

00:02:49.000 Divers quickly went back downto search for the men,

00:02:51.262 but by the time they were found,it was already too late.

00:02:54.105 Their story is like so many othersfrom the Blue Hole.

00:02:57.320 Otherwise careful and experienced diversgo down into the hole, but then don't return.

00:03:01.640 So what is it exactly that makes theBlue Hole so deadly?

00:03:05.338 Maybe it would be a good idea first todefine exactly what a blue hole is.

00:03:09.560 During past ice ages, sea levels wereas low as a hundred meters

00:03:12.698 or 330 feet lower than what they are today.

00:03:15.480 During this time, way more of the world'sland masses were out of the water,

00:03:18.640 which exposed many surface caves and sink holes.

00:03:21.320 Over time, the rain eroded these surface cavesas they normally do with limestone.

00:03:24.720 And then as the sea levels rose,this was compounded

00:03:27.000 by the salty seawater flowing over the rocks.

00:03:29.840 Many of these surface caves then collapsed furtherinto these large circular holes

00:03:33.320 that are now visible under the water's surfaceand are essentially vertical caves.

00:03:37.440 The cool but creepy part about them thoughis that the outer edge of these holes,

00:03:41.000 is composed of different types of rock thatdon't dissolve like the inner portion.

00:03:45.000 Inside of the edge of this stable rim,the holes can drop dramatically

00:03:48.360 to much, much deeper than thesurrounding sea floor.

00:03:51.440 The Great Blue Hole off the coast of Belizeis a good example of this.

00:03:54.760 The edge of the hole is only 10 metersor 33 feet deep,

00:03:57.440 but then if you drop over the edge,it drops vertically to 124 meters

00:04:01.520 or 407 feet in basically a single vertical drop.

00:04:05.720 And because the depth of the edgeand bottom are so different,

00:04:08.160 this creates the crazy contrasting colorthat's visible from the surface.

00:04:11.880 You'll have a typically blue tropical wateraround the edges,

00:04:14.760 but then a deep, dark blue in the middle,close to the color of the open ocean.

00:04:18.920 Another consequence of the contrastin depth is that the water circulation

00:04:22.160 in these sink holes is often very poor,especially the deeper you go.

00:04:25.960 In fact, many of the bottoms of these blue holesare completely without oxygen.

00:04:29.280 So in addition to being deep and dark,they can be completely devoid of sea life,

00:04:32.760 which makes for sort of a barren alien worldcompared to the surrounding waters.

00:04:36.800 In any case, these blue holes are found worldwide,

00:04:39.120 and offer pretty unique diving conditions.

00:04:41.238 They generally don't have a current becausethey're cut off from the rest of the water,

00:04:44.040 so that's just one more variabledivers don't have to worry about.

00:04:47.320 Some of these are also very close to the shore too,

00:04:49.635 so you can literally be on the beach,walk into the water a few feet away,

00:04:52.680 and then down to hundreds of feet of depth.

00:04:55.400 This makes them pretty accessible and convenienton top of everything else.

00:04:58.800 It's for the reason that they're so popular forscuba diving and free diving even,

00:05:02.303 but that doesn't really answer why these dive sitesare so deadly.

00:05:05.600 Or in particular, what makes the site near Dahabso deadly that it's called a diver cemetery?

00:05:10.466 Unfortunately, there isn't a super clear answerto this question.

00:05:13.500 In fact, it's not even clear if the site is actuallymore deadly than others.

00:05:17.200 Since no official records are kept abouthow many dives have been done

00:05:19.880 or the number of divers who died,

00:05:21.400 you can't really compare the rate of fatalitiesto the average for diving.

00:05:25.160 It could be more dangerous, and that's whythe death toll is so high,

00:05:28.120 or it could simply be that the absolute number is higher

00:05:30.360 because of the sheer number of dives thattake place in the hole.

00:05:33.446 Either way, weirdly, this reputation doesn'tat all discourage people from coming;

00:05:37.240 it seems to be the opposite.

00:05:38.960 Part of the attraction even is thatit has this sinister reputation -

00:05:42.000 it's beautiful but deadly.

00:05:43.840 On the shore, there's even a memorialfor some of the divers

00:05:46.280 who've lost their lives in the hole.

00:05:48.442 Almost morbidly, prospective diverscome to check out these plaques

00:05:51.680 shortly before entering the water,

00:05:53.280 hoping not to need to be recovered by Tareklike Martin and Conor.

00:05:57.320 The reality is that the people who havebeen recovered

00:05:59.840 are only a small fraction of the peoplewho are actually down there.

00:06:02.960 Due to the size and depth of the hole, sometimes,people are not found until long after.

00:06:06.996 At which point, it's recommended not to recover them

00:06:09.120 because of the decomposition that's already occurred.

00:06:11.600 Morbidly as well, divers often take videoswhen they dive the Blue Hole.

00:06:15.360 Then, when they watched the video back later,

00:06:17.120 occasionally, equipment belonging tothese lost individuals

00:06:20.200 is visible, nestled in the sandor the rocks along the bottom.

00:06:23.400 One possibility to explain the dangerof the hole in Dahab is its unique shape.

00:06:27.600 From the water's surface, the walls narrowlike a funnel as you travel deeper.

00:06:31.200 Then, at 52 meters or 170 feet, there is a large archon the far side of the hole.

00:06:36.520 This arch opens up into another 26-meter

00:06:38.920 or 85-foot tunnel that continues todescend diagonally

00:06:41.920 until it passes through the wall of the hole,into the open ocean.

00:06:45.600 From there, there are rapid incrementaldrops in depth

00:06:48.400 that go from 120 meters or 390 feetat the tunnel's exit,

00:06:52.440 all the way to 800 meters or 2,600 feet.

00:06:56.600 There are several intermediate steps in between,

00:06:58.760 but that is the final drop off to the ocean floor.

00:07:01.800 For these deeper steps, onlytechnical diving is possible

00:07:04.560 because regular air becomes toxic at these depths.

00:07:07.640 It's also possible that it's for this reasonthat the hole is so dangerous.

00:07:10.640 Maybe because of the rapid drop from the surface,

00:07:12.680 it's just so easy for divers on regular airto descend too quickly

00:07:15.880 without realizing how far they've gone.

00:07:18.080 Then, before they know it, the nitrogen narcosisbecomes too intoxicating, and they pass out.

00:07:22.840 But it's not only divers on regular airwho have died there, obviously.

00:07:26.600 Like for example, in 2011, a man named Igorplanned to do a technical dive

00:07:30.760 down to 150 meters; roughly 50 meters abovethe hole's true depth.

00:07:35.320 He was very experienced and had doneexactly 400 dives

00:07:38.200 when he entered the water at the Blue Hole that day.

00:07:40.920 First, he got into the arch at 50 meters.

00:07:43.206 Then at 90 meters, he passed another manwho recalled thinking that Igor looked shaky,

00:07:47.402 but that he gave him the "okay" signal anyway.

00:07:50.120 Then down to 120 meters, then to 150 meters,

00:07:53.440 and Igor was at the deepest he'd ever been by far.

00:07:56.920 After a hard landing on a ledge at 150 meters,he began to ascend,

00:08:00.909 but by then, things were alreadybeginning to go bad.

00:08:04.000 At 130 meters, Igor began to hyperventilate.

00:08:07.280 This turned to complete panic,and then in an instant,

00:08:10.040 Igor shot up to the surface withoutmaking any stops.

00:08:13.730 This is a terrifying thing to do withoutmaking decompression stops

00:08:17.400 for the depth that he dove.

00:08:19.200 All of the dissolved gases in his blood,due to the pressure at depth

00:08:22.200 were now expanding rapidly as he ascended.

00:08:24.880 By the time he hit the surface, they would've beencausing him an immense amount of pain

00:08:28.160 and would've been blocking theblood vessels all over his body.

00:08:31.400 As his head broke the water,he cried out in pain,

00:08:33.600 and then a few minutes later, he was dead.

00:08:36.000 Igor would be one that Tarekdidn't need to recover.

00:08:39.890 Maybe another reason that this hole is so dangerous,

00:08:42.120 is that although diving is sort of regulated,in this area, money goes a long way.

00:08:46.771 Most of the dive shops in the area are licensed,but some aren't.

00:08:49.840 And then in addition to that,there's also lots of competition,

00:08:52.360 which drives down the price per dive.

00:08:54.680 Because of this, some of the instructorsand guides are willing

00:08:57.080 to forego some of the rules and regulationsin exchange for a little extra money.

00:09:01.252 This can create some suboptimal conditionsfor inexperienced divers.

00:09:05.640 However, at the very least, at least the peoplewho pay for these services

00:09:08.960 still go with someone who's trained and experienced.

00:09:11.600 A far worse thing to do would be to simply go alone.

00:09:15.410 The most famous incident at the Blue Hole

00:09:17.480 is one that I'm sure many of youare already aware of.

00:09:19.840 But I think a video about the Blue Holewouldn't be complete

00:09:22.480 without covering this incident,so I've included it in this video.

00:09:26.160 In April of the year 2000,a man named Yuri arrived in Dahab,

00:09:29.560 with the intent of taking advantage ofall the diving spots in the area.

00:09:33.120 Yuri, who was a scuba diving instructor, had broughtall of his scuba equipment with him,

00:09:36.920 and arrived in Dahab after visiting a friend of hisin the nearby city of Tel Aviv.

00:09:41.400 For several years, as it was for many divers,

00:09:43.640 it had been a dream of Yuri'sto dive the Blue Hole.

00:09:46.480 Yuri's father had made him promisenot to do anything stupid or dangerous,

00:09:50.120 and so with that in mind, although he was alone,

00:09:52.280 he attempted to find someone to go with him.

00:09:54.200 So within a few hours of him arriving the city,

00:09:56.200 he was walking the street alongthe many dive shops,

00:09:58.360 looking for someone to go with himor to take him along.

00:10:01.160 People watched as Yuri wandered back and forth,inquiring about different services,

00:10:04.920 until finally, he managed to find a local manwho agreed to go with him.

00:10:08.720 Shortly after that, the two of them arrivedat the dive site and entered the water.

00:10:12.640 During Yuri's dive, he captured this video.

00:10:16.080 The video begins, and Yuri can be seennear the water's surface.

00:10:19.720 There are other divers around him,coral reefs, fish,

00:10:22.800 and the water is bright, blue and clear.

00:10:25.919 He briefly looks down at the camera to fiddle with it

00:10:27.970 and seems to attach some sort of lens cover to it.

00:10:31.160 Maybe this was some sort of case to protect it

00:10:32.920 from the pressure he knew it would experience.

00:10:44.000 He fiddles with it some more, and thenonce he seems satisfied,

00:10:46.800 his focus shifts to two other divers in front of him,

00:10:49.080 and you can see the long string of bubblesfloating up away from them,

00:10:51.680 coming from their regulators.

00:10:53.680 They seem to be kicking gently to staywhere they are,

00:10:55.960 floating together, almost as if they're talking.

00:11:06.760 He approaches these divers close enoughto where it seems

00:11:09.120 he almost might come into contact with them.

00:11:11.040 He then moves past those diversand looks off into the distance,

00:11:14.200 and all he can see is the dark waterwith nothing in sight below him.

00:11:18.080 From somewhere much deeper, more bubblesseemed to be floating up,

00:11:21.120 indicating that some other diversare deeper and out of sight.

00:11:25.080 Yuri then begins to move in the directionof those bubbles.

00:11:28.560 I'm now going to skip ahead in the video whereYuri stops moving around

00:11:31.720 and fiddling with the cameraand begins his descent.

00:11:36.720 Yuri can now be seen refocusingand directing his gaze

00:11:39.520 toward another diver down below him.

00:11:41.840 Maybe this is the local he broughtalong with him.

00:11:44.600 The person in front of him has another long stringof bubbles floating up and away from him,

00:11:48.320 and soon enough, Yuri seemsto swim past him.

00:11:51.240 He then looks up toward the surface,and you can see the sun shining through.

00:11:55.188 Then, his gaze goes back downto what looks like the bottom.

00:12:05.920 In reality, this is more like theinner wall of the hole,

00:12:08.520 and Yuri is swimming along its contour.

00:12:10.840 The water here is already much darkerthan the surface above.

00:12:14.680 Now, I'm gonna do somethingthat I don't normally do.

00:12:17.200 I'm just gonna let the video runwithout saying anything

00:12:19.560 so that you can listen to his breathingas he descends.

00:12:22.400 Occasionally, you'll see the inner wallin the bottom of the frame,

00:12:25.400 but pay attention to just how dark the water getsin just a few moments.

00:13:20.440 Now is maybe a good time to mention thatYuri is only using regular air.

00:13:25.160 As he was descending, he would've been increasinglyaffected by nitrogen narcosis,

00:13:29.186 and in addition to that, his buoyancy controlwould've become

00:13:31.866 less and less effective as the pressure increased.

00:13:35.120 The water is already so dark that it's unbelievable.

00:14:26.960 Right here, he looks at his dive computerto check his depth,

00:14:29.440 and it reads 81 meters or 265 feet.

00:14:33.120 Regular air isn't recommended below 40 meters.

00:14:36.400 Yuri is almost twice as deep as that.

00:14:38.799 For the next few moments,you're gonna see him struggle

00:14:40.640 along the bottom of whatever ledgehe's come to rest on,

00:14:43.120 and it's unclear how aware he isof what's happening.

00:14:53.040 In a second, you're gonna hear the hiss of air

00:14:55.000 as he tries to inflate his buoyancy control device.

00:15:03.480 Unfortunately, Yuri is too deep, and theequipment he has is too heavy.

00:15:18.680 He struggles around for another few moments,

00:15:20.640 possibly desperately trying to swim up,but it's already too late.

00:15:48.760 The camera cuts off while Yuri is still trying tonavigate the terrifying situation he is in.

00:16:06.640 About 40 minutes later, when Yurididn't return from the water,

00:16:09.360 everyone knew what that meant.

00:16:11.200 His parents were contacted shortly after, and his fatherwas in Dahab the following day.

00:16:15.760 After pleading with the locals to recoverYuri from the bottom,

00:16:18.400 Tarek finally volunteered to make the recovery.

00:16:21.080 At the time, this was the deepest recoverythat anyone had ever done.

00:16:24.880 Yuri was eventually found, lying face down,with far too much weight attached to him,

00:16:28.680 at a final depth of 91 meters.

00:16:31.360 Tarek also found that in his effortto make himself more buoyant,

00:16:34.456 Yuri's buoyancy control device hadactually burst due to being overfilled.

00:16:38.880 In the end, Yuri was brought back up,

00:16:40.720 and all of his personal belongingswere returned to his parents.

00:16:43.600 This included the camera, which at the time,Tarek didn't know was still functional.

00:16:48.160 It was only rated for a depth of 75 meters,so he assumed it had broken,

00:16:51.840 and any footage wouldn't have been captured.

00:16:54.400 Unfortunately, as you saw,it had captured everything,

00:16:57.080 which was promptly playedin front of his mother and father.

00:16:59.840 Tarek has stated that had he knownit was functional,

00:17:01.888 he would've flooded the camera himself.

00:17:04.000 In fact, the final five seconds of the footagewere captured the following day

00:17:07.520 accidentally as they were trying to seeif the camera was working.

00:17:11.160 Yuri's footage is now used as a warning fornew divers about the dangers of scuba diving.

00:17:16.372 The striking thing about the video ishow quickly it all seems to happen.

00:17:20.000 From the point that the water is so clear and calmand everything is fine,

00:17:23.160 just a few moments pass before the wateris pitch-black and alien.

00:17:26.800 Before you can even tell what's going on,it's already too late.

00:17:30.040 And maybe it's for this reason that the Blue Holein Dahab is so deadly.

00:17:34.120 The conditions at the surface give the illusionof a much safer environment than what it is.

00:17:40.360 Thank you all so much for watching.If you wanna see the full video,

00:17:42.800 a quick search of "Yuri Lipski" on YouTubewill get you the full footage.

00:17:46.319 I know this is an incident that has beencovered a lot before,

00:17:48.480 but it's one that's so harrowing and has beenrecommended by so many of you;

00:17:51.640 I wanted to put something out that was covering it.

00:17:53.760 Hopefully, there were even some new insights ifyou'd seen it before in some other capacity.

00:17:57.880 If you wanna support the channel,give this video a like.

00:18:00.000 If you have a story suggestion, feel free to send it to meby the email found in the description.

00:18:04.000 And once again, thank you so much for watching,and hopefully, I will see you in the next one.

# What Happened To The Nautilus?

# https://www.youtube.com/watch/8AbtCE-sePc

00:00:02.000 In August 1931, a submarine approaches the edge of the known world.

00:00:07.007 It’s about to enter a massive frozen unknown. A part of the world remains largely unexplored. 

00:00:14.640 On board are a group of daring  explorers determined to uncover the Arctic’s great mysteries.

00:00:21.561  Setting out to not only reach the top of the world,  

00:00:25.080 but to discover what lies hidden beneath it. In a new kind of exploration machine.  

00:00:30.880 Enduring cramped conditions and frigid  temperatures, they’ll push ahead for thousands  

00:00:35.280 of kilometers under the ice. But as days turn to weeks, the expedition will go horribly wrong.

00:00:48.000 For centuries, explorers tried repeatedly to reach the top of the world. At first, they used ships,  

00:00:54.760 battling frigid temperatures and treacherous sea ice. Their vessels often became trapped,  

00:01:00.160 stranding crews with little hope of rescue. Later, explorers tried with dog sleds or even  

00:01:05.920 on foot, often ending tragically. Over the centuries hundreds of explorers perished. 

00:01:12.400 So challenging was the Arctic, that the first undisputed discovery  

00:01:16.320 of the North Pole wasn’t until 1926.And it was only from the air, in a modified  

00:01:22.400 airship that never even touched the ground.   So, when accomplished explorer Sir Hubert Wilkins  

00:01:28.560 planned to set foot on the North Pole, he was convinced there was a better way to do it.   

00:01:33.760 The North Pole doesn’t lie on a continental land mass like the South Pole. Instead,  

00:01:38.960 it’s located in the middle of the Arctic Ocean amid waters almost always covered in ice. 

00:01:44.760 Wilkins was convinced that a submarine would be the ultimate way to reach the  

00:01:49.360 North Pole. And fitted with the latest scientific equipment, it could help  

00:01:54.040 solve the Arctic's greatest mysteries. 

00:01:59.022 Wilkins would set off in the summer. 

00:02:01.920 First,  sailing across the Atlantic, then all the way up to the Arctic Circle. From there, his  

00:02:07.720 expedition would head West, spanning over three thousand kilometers. Over six weeks, he'd zigzag  

00:02:14.360 underneath the ice, emerging from the deep through any openings, before finally ending in Alaska.  

00:02:20.600 To fund the expedition, Wilkins put up his own savings and raised money from wherever  

00:02:25.360 he could. He lectured day and night, and even wrote a book outlining his ambitions plans.  

00:02:31.440 But it still wasn't enough. He’d need serious backing. And one sure way to get it… was to turn  

00:02:37.560 his scientific pursuit into a media sensation. A voyage under the sea ice was the kind of thing  

00:02:43.840 that would sell out newspapers. So Wilkins made a deal with newspaper  

00:02:48.240 magnate William Randolph Hearst. A man with a flare for sensationalism. 

00:02:53.800 Hearst would get exclusive publishing rights, and Wilkins would get his funding.  

00:02:58.160 And to create even more buzz, Hearst orchestrated for Wilkins to meet up at  

00:03:02.600 the pole with a second expedition. The massive airship Graf Zeppelin would fly overhead just  

00:03:08.480 as Wilkins emerged from the ice. Captivating the public with headlines of the pole being  

00:03:13.200 conquered from above and below. If he could pull off the stunt,  

00:03:17.040 Hearst offered Wilkins a one hundred and fifty thousand dollar prize. 

00:03:21.600 All that was left, was to find a submarine.

00:03:28.600 Wilkins planned to reach the North Pole in the Nautilus. A retired World War One-era attack  

00:03:34.960 sub that had been heavily modified by renowned naval architect Simon Lake. And it would have to  

00:03:41.320 do what no submarine had ever done before.The voyage would be fraught with danger,  

00:03:47.680 including the risk of a collision with the sea ice. So Lake reinforced the Nautilus’s bow with  

00:03:53.200 heavy steel plates and concrete, and added a hydraulic impact absorber to soften the blow.  

00:03:59.560 But the ice above could also prove deadly. So Lake fitted the topside with sledge runners,  

00:04:05.800 which would allow it to slide along the bottom of the ice, much like a toboggan.  

00:04:10.600 A hydraulic retractable guide arm would also keep a safe distance from hazards above.  

00:04:16.560 The Nautilus could be confined under the ice for days at a time. But it  

00:04:20.920 would eventually need to surface to take on air and recharge its batteries. A lack  

00:04:25.400 of openings in the ice could doom the crew. So Lake innovated a series of drills capable  

00:04:31.640 of boring through the ice. Allowing the Nautilus’s crew to drill through  

00:04:35.960 up to twenty feet to reach the surface.In place of the original torpedo tubes,  

00:04:41.240 Lake added a pressurized diving chamber, where the crew could lower instruments  

00:04:45.480 to the ocean floor, or conduct dives. In all, Simon Lake made dozens of modifications.  

00:04:52.240 Originally built for World War One, the Nautilus would now have to battle mother nature. 

00:05:00.360 On March 16, 1931, as the expedition prepared to set off, Wilkins put on a brave face for  

00:05:07.120 reporters. “The men are just having things on board now for the final inspection before  

00:05:12.080 leaving the dockyard. We expect in about six or eight months to have made the trip  

00:05:16.360 two thousand miles under the ice. Starting from Spitsbergen somewhere about the first of July”. 

00:05:20.960 But deep down, Wilkins was worried. He feared many of the sub’s novel  

00:05:25.840 features were unnecessary. Even dangerous.He had reservations about the sledge runners,  

00:05:32.000 the ice drills, and the shock absorber Which he worried would actually lodge itself into the ice,  

00:05:37.680 trapping the Nautilus beneath the surface.Wilkins insisted on installing a photosensitive  

00:05:43.720 electrical cell to measure the thickness of the ice above so he’d know where to  

00:05:48.080 surface. But Simon Lake denied the request. The Nautilus was Lake’s submarine. He’s the one  

00:05:54.880 who leased it from the U.S. Navy, and he had the final word on any modifications. Wilkins  

00:06:00.800 merely sub-chartered it for the expedition.There was little he could do, but accept the  

00:06:05.880 submarine as it was. But the wonder gadgets would cause headaches before the expedition  

00:06:11.320 even began. Repeatedly forcing the sub back into port for repairs. It was one thing to invent  

00:06:17.600 novel features. Trying to retrofit them onto a tired old sub, created all kinds of issues. 

00:06:24.200 Confirming Wilkins’s worst fears, the ice drills didn't even work during testing,  

00:06:29.600 and a separate engineering firm was called in to try to figure it all out.  

00:06:33.880 The weeks turned into months, and Wilkins was beginning to feel the pressure. 

00:06:38.840 If the Nautilus was to meet the Graf Zeppelin at the North pole, time was of the essence. Otherwise  

00:06:44.240 Wilkins would lose out on Hearst’s prize money.By June, Wilkins had had enough. Mechanical  

00:06:50.600 issues be damned, it was time to get going.

00:06:56.577 The journey across the Atlantic was grueling.  

00:07:00.680 The tiny sub was easily tossed around by fierce North Atlantic storms.The crew were also beginning  

00:07:07.120 to learn just how uncomfortable the Nautilus was.The submarine was cramped and claustrophobic to  

00:07:13.400 begin with. Now loaded up for the expedition, there was even less space. For twenty men  

00:07:18.920 there was just a single toilet out in the open between two roaring diesel engines.  

00:07:24.440 The crew would have to spend their entire day standing. Because there wasn't anywhere to sit.

00:07:29.680 Only a handful of bunks shared amongst the men provided any relief. 

00:07:35.280 Wilkins sent Hearst daily radio updates documenting harrowing journey.  

00:07:41.160 “This morning an extra heavy wave swept the deck and carried away the screen before the bridge” 

00:07:46.200 Nearly everyone aboard was seasick. And when the Nautilus’s bilge pump failed,  

00:07:51.240 sewage, oil, and vomit began to swill around the crew's feet. But as the tiny sub battled  

00:07:57.400 the fierce Atlantic, things only got worse. “The fourth cylinder of our starboard engine is  

00:08:03.040 badly cracked.” Forced to shut down one of its two engines, the Nautilus could only limp forward.  

00:08:09.040 On June 13th, a week into the journey, the Nautilus stopped sending radio updates.  

00:08:14.360 And for several days, no one had any idea about the fate of the sub and its crew.  

00:08:26.040 On June 15, the Battleship Wyoming found the Nautilus drifting aimlessly about  

00:08:30.480 a thousand kilometers northeast of the Azores, both engines had failed and the  

00:08:35.440 batteries were dead. Wilkins would now face the humiliation of having his sub towed the  

00:08:40.840 rest of the way across the Atlantic. Worse still, four crew members quit,  

00:08:45.200 and the Nautilus once again needed major repairs. It would take weeks for replacement  

00:08:50.040 parts to arrive from the United States. It meant, there was no longer enough time  

00:08:54.680 to catch up with the Graf Zeppelin. And In a stunning blow, Wilkins could  

00:08:58.880 no longer claim Hearst’s prize money.  The media also turned against him, running  

00:09:04.080 headlines that openly mocked his expedition. Wilkins was under mounting pressure. His  

00:09:09.760 submarine didn't work. His crew was demoralized and winter was fast approaching. At this point,  

00:09:16.240 just about anyone else would have thrown in the towel. But this was Sir Hubert Wilkins.  

00:09:23.800 Even months behind schedule, Wilkins pressed ahead. On July 28th,  

00:09:28.640 the expedition finally left for the North Pole. The Nautilus was still riddled with problems,  

00:09:34.480 but the crew had gotten used to making repairs on the go, and any major issues  

00:09:38.560 were fixed during scheduled stops. By August 15th, the Nautilus had reached  

00:09:43.360 the last inhabited land before the Arctic. And Wilkins was finally sending out upbeat  

00:09:48.880 progress reports. And on the 19th, the Nautilus reached the first ice flows.  

00:09:54.000 To celebrate, the men were given a break from the cramped conditions,   

00:09:57.440 and began collecting scientific data. Back home, Hearst relayed fascinating new discoveries, like  

00:10:03.480 a warmer layer of water deep below the surface, thought to be vital for predicting weather. 

00:10:08.640 After traveling a week in the ice, the Nautilus reached 82 degrees north. Further than any  

00:10:14.120 vessel had ever made it under its own power.It looked like Wilkins would actually do it,  

00:10:20.160 he would travel a thousand kilometers under the ice.

00:10:25.760 But as the world read about Wilkins's achievements, onboard the Nautilus  

00:10:30.000 things were not as they seemed. Wilkins had once again, merely put on a brave face.  

00:10:35.920 In reality, the crew were exhausted and freezing. The Nautilus had no heat or insulation. Nothing  

00:10:42.320 but bare metal separated them from the frigid arctic waters. The crew were constantly sickened  

00:10:47.600 with food poisoning and dosed with lead from the soldering in the submarine’s pipes. 

00:10:52.360 Attempting the Pole this late in the season would be extremely dangerous, and without exception,  

00:10:58.280 everyone wanted to turn around and head home. Everyone, except Wilkins

00:11:03.600 On August 22nd he gave the order to dive beneath the ice. But the Nautilus refused.  

00:11:09.920 The diving rudder, the mechanism that controls vertical motion

00:11:13.240 underwater, just wouldn't respond. Wilkins sent a diver to investigate  

00:11:18.560 and he soon returned with a stunning discovery. The rudder had simply disappeared. Maybe it had  

00:11:25.360 fallen off and somehow no one noticed? Or maybe as Wilkins suspected, the crew had sabotaged the  

00:11:31.960 sub in an attempt to end the expedition.  By this point, even Hearst was publicly  

00:11:37.320 urging Wilkins to return home. But again, things weren't what they  

00:11:41.760 seemed. In a private message, the Hearst corporation pressured Wilkins to continue  

00:11:46.680 to the Pole …reminding him of their agreement. And that left Wilkins with an impossible decision.  

00:11:53.400 Return home to certain failure and financial ruin, or press on and risk the lives of the crew. 

00:12:02.440 On August 31st Wilkins ordered the ballast tanks flooded and trim set  

00:12:06.640 two degrees down. He would force the Nautilus to submerge by ramming under the ice.  

00:12:14.600 The sound of the sledge runners scraping against the ice reverberated right through  

00:12:18.600 the superstructure, as if the Nautilus was being torn apart. 

00:12:22.960 It’s as though Wilkins had lost his mind. He couldn't  

00:12:26.720 possibly reach the pole in the crippled sub. But faced with an endless string of setbacks,  

00:12:31.800 Wilkins seemed determined to prove a point. They pushed on for several kilometers before  

00:12:37.560 Wilkins ordered a test of the ice drills.  For hours the crew tried in vain to bore  

00:12:43.200 through just a few feet of ice. Each time, Simon Lake's patented drill would only go  

00:12:49.160 so far before jamming. It was hopeless.On September 6th, Wilkins finally sent  

00:12:55.200 out the radio transmission that by now, everyone was hoping for.   

00:12:59.920 “Our Arctic trip is over…”

00:13:05.431 Wilkins had taken the Nautilus where 

00:13:07.680 no submarine had ever gone before. But it would be another three decades before anyone successfully  

00:13:14.000 traversed the arctic underneath the ice. Sharing the same name the nuclear-powered  

00:13:19.160 USS Nautilus could stay submerged for weeks at a time. It made its first Polar crossing in 1958,  

00:13:26.680 returning home to huge fanfare. By that point Wilkins’s attempt had long been forgotten.      

00:13:33.120 The original Nautilus now lies sunk on the ocean floor off the coast of Norway. After  

00:13:38.240 the crew returned from the Arctic, the sub was deemed too worn and damaged to be worth  

00:13:42.840 saving. And it was deliberately sunk. Prior to the nautilus expedition, Wilkins  

00:13:48.440 was considered among the greatest explorers of the 20th century. Having made immense contributions to  

00:13:54.520 our understanding of the North and South Poles.But his final expedition left him financially  

00:13:59.920 ruined and largely forgotten by history.After passing away at the age of seventy,  

00:14:05.760 Wilkins's final wishes were fulfilled, when the crew of the U.S.S. Skate scattered  

00:14:10.560 his ashes at the North Pole.  

00:14:17.681 In the dying days of the U.S.S.R., 

00:14:19.681 the Soviets begin working on a mysterious project straight out of science fiction. 

00:14:24.840 They’re preparing to launch the first in a series of artificial suns.  

00:14:30.080 Massive orbital satellites with the power to turn night into day. Illuminating large areas of the  

00:14:36.840 planet to generate power, light up entire cities, and grow plants in the far north.  

00:14:43.000 “They will transform perpetual night into daylight. There could eventually be a whole  

00:14:48.280 network of those cosmic spotlights. You’re talking about something which is several  

00:14:52.760 miles across. It’s the last vestige of the old Soviet dream of industrializing space.”  

00:14:59.400 This is the little known story of one of the most bizarre and  

00:15:02.880 fascinating space projects in history.And you can learn more about it in my  

00:15:07.080 feature coming next month to Nebula.Nebula is where you can watch hours of  

00:15:12.720 exclusive Mustard videos that aren't available anywhere else. Videos that  

00:15:16.920 explore the fascinating stories behind iconic machines like the legendary F-117 Nighthawk,  

00:15:23.040 the Mig-31 Foxhound, and the M-50 Bounder. And fantastic unrealized concepts like the  

00:15:29.120 insane soviet proposal for ground effect aircraft carriers, the MiG-25 Business Jet,  

00:15:34.840 and the largest aircraft ever imagined, the incredible Lockheed CL-1201. 

00:15:40.480 Nebula recently received its biggest update yet. With new categories like History and Science,  

00:15:46.600 it’s never been easier to discover content you’ll love. There’s also an entire section  

00:15:51.800 now dedicated to news, curated by the TLDR News team to keep you informed about world events. 

00:15:58.200 And we’ve just announced an exciting new batch of Originals in development, covering a wide  

00:16:03.280 spectrum of fact and fictional content. You can already start watching the War Room,  

00:16:08.200 from the team behind RealLifeLore, and get a monthly deep dive into  

00:16:12.120 ongoing conflicts around the world. Nebula isn’t like other streaming platforms.  

00:16:17.280 It’s owned directly by us, the creators, and that means your support goes directly into improving  

00:16:23.160 the platform and funding high quality projects that otherwise could never have been made.   

00:16:28.400 It’s never been easier to access Nebula. With monthly and yearly subscription options,  

00:16:33.560 and Lifetime memberships which allow you to pay only once to get unlimited access, forever.  

00:16:39.520 Sign up using the link below to support Mustard, and get 40% off an annual subscription.

# tactiq.io free youtube transcript

# What Happened To The Antarctic Snow Cruiser?

# https://www.youtube.com/watch/pW0eZRoQ86g

00:00:02.040 This video was made possible by CuriosityStream.

00:00:05.880 Watch thousands of high-quality documentariesand get access to my streaming service, Nebula

00:00:10.800 using the link in the description.

00:00:12.210 In 1940, a team of American explorers setout to chart one of the last unexplored corners

00:00:18.560 of the planet, traveling thousands of kilometersto reach the South Pole, through parts of

00:00:24.000 Antarctica no human had ever seen before.

00:00:26.890 A place so remote and inhospitable, many earlierattempts to explore it had either failed or

00:00:33.380 ended in tragedy.

00:00:35.090 But unlike earlier attempts, the Americanswill explore Antarctica with the ultimate

00:00:39.590 exploration machine.

00:00:42.000 A 37 ton mobile base which will sustain asmall team of explorers while they live, work

00:00:47.630 and sleep in isolation for an entire year.

00:00:51.700 This is the Antarctic Snow Cruiser.

00:00:54.230 Designed to push through the harshest conditionson the planet.

00:00:56.700 And it’ll end up as one of history’s greatestengineering legends.

00:01:11.700 Before 1939, only two expedition teams hadever set foot on the South Pole.

00:01:17.390 And only one of them made it back out alive.

00:01:20.220 Because temperatures in Antarctica can fallbelow -80 degrees Celsius.

00:01:25.250 Winds of two or even three hundred kilometersan hour are not unheard of. And with over

00:01:30.620 14 million square kilometers of icefieldsand polar mountains, it’s an environment

00:01:35.540 unfit for human life.

00:01:37.770 But underneath the frozen landscape lies thepotential for enormous riches, including vast

00:01:42.920 oil and mineral reserves.

00:01:45.130 And by 1939, the World’s powers had begunclaiming huge portions of it for themselves.

00:01:51.020 But missing from this map of Antarctic claimswas the United States.

00:01:55.340 While American explorers had made inroadsinto the continent, these were privately-funded

00:02:00.890 expeditions.

00:02:01.890 To make their own claim on Antarctica, theUnited States would need a larger and more

00:02:06.230 official presence.

00:02:07.759 So in 1939, U.S. President Roosevelt launchedthe United States Antarctic Service Expedition.

00:02:14.420 In the fall of that year, two ships, carryingone hundred and twenty five men, would set

00:02:18.790 sail for Antarctica in the largest Americanexpedition to date.

00:02:23.299 Their mission would be to explore previouslyunknown regions of the continent and to establish

00:02:28.340 two new field bases on either side of Antarctica.

00:02:31.919 The expedition would bring a host of explorationequipment, but the centerpiece would be the

00:02:37.230 Antarctic Snow Cruiser.

00:02:39.269 Nothing like it had ever been built before.

00:02:41.680 The size of a small building, and would evencarry its own aircraft along with five explorers

00:02:47.120 who would live and work onboard it for up toa year.

00:02:50.459 The Snow Cruiser would have a special role.

00:02:52.700 It’s crew would travel thousands of kilometersto reach the South Pole.

00:02:57.189 From there, they’d continue Eastwards tothe newly established American field base.

00:03:01.569 In effect laying the groundwork for an Americanclaim on the continent.

00:03:06.129 News of the expedition made the headlines,but it was the Antarctic Snow Cruiser and

00:03:10.840 it’s daring mission that would capture theworld's imagination.

00:03:20.370 Designed by Chicago's Armour Institute ofTechnology, the Antarctic Snow Cruiser looked

00:03:25.010 like something out of a Jules Verne novel.

00:03:27.799 To traverse the rough polar landscape, engineersgive it enormous ten foot tall rubber wheels,

00:03:33.989 which would help absorb the shock of the unforgivingfrozen terrain.

00:03:37.549 When faced with a seemingly impassable icecrevasse, the Cruiser would hydraulically

00:03:43.400 retract its wheels and use it’s large frontand rear overhangs to slide over gaps.

00:03:48.469 Allowing it to cross ice crevices up to fourand half meters wide.

00:03:53.079 To travel reliability for months on end, theCruiser would feature an innovative diesel-electric

00:03:58.729 hybrid drivetrain.

00:04:00.669 Instead of driving the Cruiser directly, dieselengines would supply power to electric motors

00:04:05.430 inside each wheel hub.

00:04:07.469 This space saving design would do away withthe need for complex driveshafts and gearboxes,

00:04:13.189 promising to be more reliable.

00:04:15.599 To combat frigid temperatures, coolant fromthe engines would circulate throughout the

00:04:19.790 cabin to heat interior spaces, and in extremeweather, coolant could also heat the Cruiser’s

00:04:26.080 hydraulically retracted wheels.

00:04:28.170 The Antarctic Snow Cruiser would carry enoughfuel, food and supplies to last an entire

00:04:32.950 year.

00:04:33.950 And feature spaces for it’s five explorersto live, sleep and work.

00:04:37.500 It would even carry it’s own biplane toconduct aerial surveys and photograph hundreds

00:04:42.780 of kilometers of Antarctic territory.

00:04:45.430 With the Snow Cruiser, the Americans wouldexplore more of Antarctica in just a few months

00:04:50.680 than all previous expeditions combined.

00:04:53.870 When the Cruiser rolled out it’s assemblyplant on October 24, 1939, huge crowds formed

00:05:01.410 to greet it.

00:05:02.850 But things were about to unravel.

00:05:05.320 Although research and design of the Snow Cruiserstarted in 1937, it wasn't until the spring

00:05:11.430 of 1939 that a decision was made to use itin the upcoming expedition.

00:05:16.090 That left just six months to finish designand construction, forcing engineers to work

00:05:21.090 around the clock.

00:05:22.090 And the Cruiser rolled out of its assemblyplant in Chicago just weeks before it had

00:05:26.940 to be loaded onto expedition ships waitingin Boston, leaving little time to test the

00:05:32.060 machine’s capabilities.

00:05:33.800 Instead the Cruiser would be driven 1,600 kilometersall the way from Chicago to Boston in a shakedown

00:05:39.810 trip to work out any issues.

00:05:42.160 With all the excitement and press, the cross-countrytrip would become a national sensation. 

00:05:47.240 But it would also prove to be more difficult thananyone anticipated.

00:05:50.840 In Fort Wayne, Indiana, just a few days intothe journey, progress was halted by of all

00:05:55.900 things, heavy rains.

00:05:57.500 Which made roads too slippery to continue.

00:06:00.170 Soon after, the Cruiser lost control and careenedinto a ditch, where crews spent the next three

00:06:06.130 days trying to get it unstuck.

00:06:08.330 It was an embarrassing start for a supposedlyunstoppable machine, designed to handle the

00:06:13.470 most difficult terrain on earth.

00:06:15.830 A hydraulic line failure and a small fenderbender further delayed progress.

00:06:20.470 But worst of all was the realization of justhow painfully slow the Cruiser was.

00:06:26.210 It should have been able to travel at speedsof up to 48 kilometers per hour.

00:06:30.230 But it struggled to reach even a fractionof that.

00:06:33.290 The problem was, each of it’s electric wheelhub motors produced just 75 horsepower.

00:06:38.020 It meant that altogether the 37 ton Cruiserhad just 8 horsepower per ton to motivate

00:06:43.920 it forward.

00:06:45.270 And wherever the slow moving machine went,it backed up traffic.

00:06:49.110 Outside of Boston, it caused the world’sworst traffic jam.

00:06:52.730 Backing up 70,000 cars.

00:06:55.220 But on November 12, the cruiser finally arrivedin Boston with just 2 days to spare.

00:07:01.050 The drive was supposed to have taken 8 days.

00:07:04.030 Instead it took nearly 3 weeks.

00:07:06.460 The Cruiser struggled so much on smooth pavedhighways, many questioned whether it was really

00:07:11.590 ready for the expedition.

00:07:12.910 But with so much excitement and publicity,there was no turning back.

00:07:17.610 On November 15, 1939 the most ambitious Americanexpedition left for Antarctica.

00:07:23.750 But for the Snow Cruiser, things were aboutto turn from bad to ugly.

00:07:33.700 The mishaps would continue as soon as theCruiser landed in Antarctica.Because the machine’s

00:07:39.140 real problems, were only just beginning

00:07:41.810 Having been built in only 11 weeks over asingle midwestern summer, the Antarctic Snow

00:07:46.910 Cruiser would see snow for the very firsttime in January of 1940.

00:07:50.860 And immediately it looked out of its element.

00:07:54.430 While the Cruiser had proven itself on highways,on tough uneven terrain, the machine was hopelessly

00:08:00.860 underpowered.

00:08:02.139 But the real problem were the tires.

00:08:04.560 Designed to absorb impacts and to be virtuallyindestructible, they were also..perfectly

00:08:09.620 smooth.

00:08:10.620 And in the Antarctic snow, they spun hopelessly.

00:08:13.639 Meaning a machine built to conquer mountainranges, could barely move an inch

00:08:18.430 The decision to use smooth tires is perplexingin hindsight.

00:08:22.260 But with such a tight development timeline, engineers had to make due with an already

00:08:26.370 existing tire design specifically built forswamp buggies.

00:08:31.139 Cutting threads into the tires might havebeen possible.

00:08:34.198 But designers figured they’d just fill upwith ice and snow anyway.

00:08:37.979 Not that they had time to test the theoryin actual ice or snow.

00:08:41.990 In a desperate effort to solve traction problems,crews attached chains to the tires and even

00:08:46.999 doubled up the front wheels with spares.

00:08:49.379 But it made little difference.

00:08:51.380 After weeks of struggling, it was obviousthat part of the problem was the machine’s

00:08:55.459 unequal weight distribution.

00:08:57.699 Driving the Cruiser backwards actually turnedout to be the most effective way to get it

00:09:02.100 moving.

00:09:03.100 So that’s what they did.

00:09:04.610 On its longest trek the Cruiser managed totravel backwards for 148 kilometres in a loop

00:09:09.970 around the landing base.

00:09:11.809 But driving in reverse severely limited theCruiser’s speed.

00:09:15.920 And there was no way it could make it allthe way to the south pole in reverse.

00:09:21.079 The expedition team eventually admitted defeatand permanently parked the Cruiser for use

00:09:26.279 as a stationary laboratory.

00:09:30.610 The expedition would continue without theCruiser, but it would also have to end early.

00:09:36.089 With the Second World War looming, the entireproject was abandoned and the expedition team

00:09:40.671 returned home.

00:09:42.490 After the War, the world had changed and conquestand colonization of distant lands had fallen

00:09:48.379 out of favour.

00:09:49.879 The abandoned Snow Cruiser was last spottedin 1958, after it was dug out from under several

00:09:55.000 meters of snow.

00:09:56.180 Today, the machine’s whereabouts are unknown.

00:09:58.790 It’s either still buried under sheets ofice, or has since broken off on an ice flow

00:10:03.449 and sunk to the bottom of the ocean.

00:10:05.180 In the end, the Antarctic Snow Cruiser hadclearly been rushed into service and the result

00:10:10.570 was a machine that had been over designedand under-tested.

00:10:15.329 Extreme optimism had seemingly been its designphilosophy.

00:10:23.110 This is the SR-71 Blackbird, the world’sfastest jet.

00:10:27.540 For years, the Blackbird could operate anywherein the world using speed to outrun any threat.

00:10:33.009 But the legendary spy plane would eventuallymeet its match.

00:10:38.610 This is the MiG-31.

00:10:40.899 Designed to intercept any threat. It's oneof the fastest combat jets to enter into service

00:10:46.129 and holds the absolute world record for altitude.

00:10:49.149 It’s phased array radar can track multipletargets hundreds of kilometers away.

00:10:53.839 And just four MiG-31s can defend an area ofairspace nearly a thousand kilometres wide.

00:11:00.759 In a few weeks, I’ll be releasing my nextNebula-exclusive on the legendary MiG-31 Foxhound.

00:11:06.410 It’s just one of a growing number of exclusiveMustard videos on Nebula.

00:11:12.430 Nebula is where Youtube’s top educationalcreators upload videos everyday, and it’s

00:11:17.399 where you can enjoy videos without advertisementsor sponsor messages.

00:11:21.420 The best part about Nebula is that it’sfree when you sign up for CuriosityStream.

00:11:25.829 A streaming service with thousands of bigbudget award-winning documentaries.

00:11:30.170 If you want to learn more about the fascinatinghistory of Antarctic exploration, check out

00:11:35.120 Icemen: 200 years in Antarctica and learnwhy so many have been drawn to the frozen

00:11:40.070 deadly abyss.

00:11:41.779 Get an entire year of both CuriosityStreamand Nebula for less than $15 by going to

00:11:47.020 curiositystream.com/mustard and use the promocode ‘mustard’ when you sign up.

# tactiq.io free youtube transcript

# This Jet Terrified the West: The MiG-25 Foxbat

# https://www.youtube.com/watch/W1L1sU0uI0o

00:00:03.200 This video was made possible by CuriosityStream. Watch thousands of high-quality documentaries  

00:00:08.960 and get access to my streaming service, Nebula using the link in the description. 

00:00:14.160 In November 1971, two Israeli fighter jets race to intercept an unidentified aircraft.  

00:00:20.640 The F4 Phantoms are among the fastest jets in the world, but they’re not fast enough.  

00:00:26.560 Because they’re chasing a MiG-25. A plane that can fly so fast and high, it can outrun  

00:00:33.200 any fighter or air defense system. For nearly a decade, the Soviet Union’s  

00:00:38.240 MiG-25 will remain a complete mystery and leave western intelligence scrambling for answers.  

00:00:52.240 In the opening years of the Cold War a new kind of weapon emerged, the intercontinental bomber.  

00:00:58.240 An aircraft with enough range to reach nearly any part of the world to deliver a nuclear strike.  

00:01:04.560 America’s first intercontinental bomber not only flew further,  

00:01:08.480 it flew higher and faster than any bomber before it, making it extremely difficult to intercept.  

00:01:14.880 And it started a decade-long trend of building strategic bombers that flew  

00:01:19.120 ever higher and faster. The Soviet Union responded by building  

00:01:24.000 increasingly capable fighter-interceptors to try and stop them. But by the late 1950s,  

00:01:29.920 Soviet intelligence had learned that the Americans were developing a new state-of-the-art bomber that  

00:01:34.880 would fly so high and fast, it would render the entire Soviet Air Force virtually obsolete. 

00:01:41.840 The XB-70 was so cutting edge, that only a few years earlier it would have been impossible to  

00:01:47.360 build. But the Americans were aiming to have the bomber ready in just a few short years.  

00:01:52.400 For Soviet leadership, a sense of panic set in.   

00:01:55.920 As the largest country in the world, there were over twenty two million square  

00:02:00.320 kilometers of airspace guard. At any moment, American bombers could emerge from the north,  

00:02:06.240 or from bases in the east, or NATO allied countries in the west.   

00:02:10.639 And only a handful of supersonic bombers would be enough to overwhelm air defenses. 

00:02:16.560 The Soviet Union would have just a few short years to design and build a new interceptor to match the  

00:02:22.560 incredible performance of the upcoming B-70.  It would have to be as fast as Soviet ingenuity  

00:02:28.640 could make it, and developed in record time. But to effectively guard the country’s  

00:02:33.680 enormous airspace, they’d also need to mass produce the new jet by the hundreds. 

00:02:42.960 The MiG-25 was the Soviet Union’s answer, an interceptor that would  

00:02:47.680 overcome the odds with brute force. To catch the XB-70, engineers would need to  

00:02:53.360 equip the MiG with enormously powerful engines. But there wouldn't be time to develop new ones.  

00:02:58.800 Instead, they’d make due with a turbojet originally built to power cruise missiles  

00:03:03.280 and reconnaissance drones. They were the largest engines ever put on a fighter,  

00:03:08.560 but they were essentially disposable. It meant that initial versions of the MiG had engines  

00:03:13.440 with a service life of just 150 hours.   At intercept speeds , the MiG-25 would have  

00:03:19.840 to withstand serious kinetic heating, with some parts reaching 300 Celsius.  

00:03:25.600 But lightweight heat-resistant titanium was just too difficult to produce on a mass scale. 

00:03:31.280 So engineers built the jet largely out of heavy nickel-steel alloy, a material that could be  

00:03:36.880 quickly welded together and easily repaired at even the most remote and ill-equipped airbase. 

00:03:42.640 But it meant the more than forty thousand pound jet could never be maneuverable, a characteristic  

00:03:48.640 considered irrelevant for its mission. To spot enemy bombers, the MiG-25 was  

00:03:53.920 equipped with a colossal 600 kilowatt radar designed to detect high flying  

00:03:59.440 aircraft up to a hundred kilometers away and burn right through their jamming devices. 

00:04:04.960 And it would only need one kind of weapon. Four of the largest air-to-air missiles ever produced.  

00:04:11.680 Along with the interceptor, there would also be a dedicated reconnaissance version  

00:04:15.920 with powerful surveillance cameras, increased range, and an even higher service ceiling. Some  

00:04:21.600 versions could even be equipped for high altitude bombing. But the vast majority of MiG-25s would  

00:04:27.360 be built as dedicated interceptors. Mass production began in 1969,  

00:04:32.480 and at one point, one hundred MiG-25’s were rolling off assembly lines  

00:04:37.360 every single month. The Mig-25 would fly higher and faster than any combat jet in history, and it  

00:04:44.640 would have a profound effect on the Cold War. Just not in the way the Soviets were expecting.  

00:04:54.480 In 1967, the Soviet Union put on a massive airshow. And they made sure  

00:04:59.760 the Americans were watching. The event was even broadcast in English for western audiences. 

00:05:05.760 The Soviets unveiled several new aircraft for the very first time, but they saved the best for  

00:05:11.520 last. In the final 10 minutes, three prototype MiG-25s were sent roaring past the audience.  

00:05:18.240 It was the first time anyone outside of the Soviet Union would see the new aircraft. And  

00:05:23.040 for western intelligence, it set off alarm bells. 

00:05:26.800 The grainy footage revealed an aircraft with all the hallmarks of an agile fighter,  

00:05:31.360 the unusually large wings suggested extreme maneuverability. Enormous air intakes hinted  

00:05:37.200 at massive engines and experts suspected the use of advanced lightweight titanium.  

00:05:42.880 But what worried them the most, was that the plane looked eerily similar to concepts for America’s  

00:05:48.160 next-generation air superiority fighter. A jet that wouldn't be ready for another ten years.  

00:05:55.040 In Washington, military planners struggled to understand how the  

00:05:58.800 Soviets could have leapfrogged so far ahead. Because only a few months later,  

00:06:03.440 the Soviet Union started registering incredible new world records for speed and altitude.  

00:06:08.800 And the media soon caught wind, spreading fears that the mysterious new jet  

00:06:13.280 could outperform anything built by the West. The US Air Force Chief of Staff even publicly admitted  

00:06:19.200 that for the first time, the Soviet’s had a jet that the United States couldn't match. 

00:06:24.160 The perceived threat posed by the mysterious new jet motivated the US to drastically increase  

00:06:27.680 performance targets for its next-generation fighters. But for years, the Americans were  

00:06:32.560 desperate for any information they could get. They’d catch another glimpse in 1971,  

00:06:38.080 when Israeli radar controllers began tracking MiG-25’s over the Saini peninsula.  

00:06:43.520 The jets were clocked flying at more than two and half times the speed of sound, at an altitude of  

00:06:49.120 over twenty kilometers. At one point, they even tracked one of the MiGs accelerating beyond  

00:06:54.480 Mach 3. But the jets flew so high and fast, no fighter in the world could catch them.  

00:07:00.720 For over a decade, the MiG-25 remained a mystery and continued to worry western  

00:07:05.440 intelligence. But that was about to change in the most dramatic way possible. 

00:07:14.240 On September 6th, 1976, the Soviet Union’s most secretive jet showed up seemingly out of nowhere  

00:07:21.120 over northern Japan. It then made a dramatic crash landing at a sleepy commercial airport,  

00:07:26.640 Nearly colliding with an airliner and skidding right off the end of a runway.   

00:07:31.280 It was the first time anyone in the West would see a MiG-25 in person. And as curious onlookers  

00:07:37.440 gathered, no one seemed to know where it had come from or how it got here.  

00:07:42.320 Piloting the MiG was 29 year old Viktor Belenko. He was quickly taken into custody  

00:07:48.080 where he explained that he escaped the Soviet Union to seek asylum in the United States.  

00:07:53.360 Disillusioned with life in the Soviet Union and harsh conditions at his airbase,  

00:07:57.760 Belenko had planned his escape for months. While on a training exercise over the sea of Japan,  

00:08:03.280 he reported engine trouble, giving him a chance to fall back from his group.  

00:08:07.760 Belenko then descended low enough to evade radar detection. Once  

00:08:12.400 out of Soviet air space, he set course for the nearest Japanese air base.  

00:08:16.640 But with limited fuel and difficulty navigating, he was forced to find the nearest airport.  

00:08:21.840 Belenko was well aware that his MiG-25 was a prized possession  

00:08:26.160 and he provided invaluable information to western intelligence, who shipped his MiG to a  

00:08:30.720 nearby air base to examine every inch of it.And they were in for the shock of a lifetime.  

00:08:37.039 The MiG-25 obviously wasn’t the agile fighter they were expecting.  

00:08:41.200 Its heavy stainless steel airframe severely limited maneuverability and the large wings  

00:08:46.400 were needed just to keep the jet airborne. The engines, while powerful enough to exceed Mach 3,  

00:08:52.240 couldn’t sustain those speeds without permanent damage. Meaning the practical  

00:08:56.000 limit was around Mach 2.8. The MiG’s radar was powerful but  

00:09:00.320 lacked look-down capability, meaning it couldn't track low flying targets.  

00:09:05.280 The compromises that Soviet engineers were forced to make were now glaringly apparent. But they  

00:09:10.880 wouldn’t have mattered much for intercepting a high-altitude, supersonic bomber like the B-70.  

00:09:16.320 But the B-70 never made it into production. Instead, the Americans switched their tactics  

00:09:21.280 from high speed and high altitude, to low altitude radar and defense evading aircraft.  

00:09:27.120 Leaving western intelligence perplexed as to why the MiG-25 was produced in such large numbers.  

00:09:33.600 The only other aircraft the interceptor would potentially have to guard against  

00:09:37.520 were a handful of reconnaissance aircraft.The same media that once stoked fears about a  

00:09:43.360 Soviet super-plane now openly mocked the MiG as a crudely built machine that was more or  

00:09:49.200 less useless in combat. An inferior aircraft that proved the Soviets were behind in technology.  

00:09:55.680 Belenko’s defection outraged Soviet leadership, who demanded that he return to the Soviet  

00:10:00.720 Union along with the stolen MiG. Instead, Belenko was granted American citizenship,  

00:10:06.160 while his MiG was sent back to the Soviet Union in dozens of pieces.  

00:10:15.440 The Americans had learned everything there was to know about the MiG-25, and they now understood  

00:10:20.400 critical components of the Soviet air defense system. With the MiG-25 so thoroughly compromised,  

00:10:26.560 Soviet engineers had to work around the clock to modernize the aircraft.  

00:10:30.480 Equipping the MiG-25 with more powerful and reliable engines,  

00:10:34.400 a more sophisticated look-down radar, and the ability to field a wider range of missiles.. 

00:10:40.000 Meanwhile older versions of the jet, no longer a closely guarded secret,  

00:10:44.160 were exported to other countries. In all, nearly twelve hundred MiG-25s were produced.  

00:10:50.320 But more than fifty years later, the MiG-25 is still the fastest fighter jet ever built.  

00:10:55.920 An aircraft that would set twenty nine World Records. In 1977, a MiG-25 climbed  

00:11:01.840 to an incredible altitude of 123,000 feet, setting a record that still stands today. 

00:11:09.520 Although the aircraft had been built to intercept high altitude bombers,  

00:11:13.760 downgraded export versions even saw moderate success in combat. 

00:11:18.080 But by the late 1970s, the Soviet Union had moved on. Because  

00:11:25.360 development of a next-generation interceptor was well underway. A jet that would have cutting  

00:11:30.996 edge avionics, sophisticated engines, and a radar and weapons control system  

00:11:36.160 so advanced, it could engage multiple targets simultaneously from a hundred kilometers away  

00:11:42.000 and even link with other fighters to coordinate an attack. In the process, instantly upgrading  

00:11:47.120 the capabilities of older Soviet fighters.  Where the MiG-25’s design was about brute force,  

00:11:53.360 the new MiG-31 would use the state-of-the-art to become the world's most formidable interceptor. 

00:11:59.680 You can learn more about the MiG-31’s brilliant engineering in my latest video  

00:12:04.400 now on Nebula. Nebula is where you can watch a growing number of my exclusive videos, like  

00:12:10.400 a bizarre Soviet proposal that would’ve seen the MiG-25 turned into a supersonic business jet. 

00:12:16.400 Nebula is where YouTube’s top educational creators upload new videos every day.  

00:12:21.520 And where you can enjoy videos without advertisements or sponsor messages.  

00:12:25.680 The best part about Nebula is that it’s free when you sign up for CuriosityStream.  

00:12:30.320 A streaming service with thousands of big budget award-winning documentaries. 

00:12:34.720 A recent favorite of mine is Armstrong, a beautiful documentary narrated by Harrison Ford

00:12:40.400 that follows the incredible life of Neil Armstrong, from his early days in the navy,  

00:12:45.040 to his daring career as test pilot and astronaut and his eventual landing on the Moon.  

00:12:50.640 Get unlimited access to both CuriosityStream and Nebula for less than $2 a month  

00:12:56.160 by going to curiositystream.com/mustard and use the promo code ‘mustard’ when you sign up.

# tactiq.io free youtube transcript

# Sucked Into an Oil Pipe - The Paria Diving Incident

# https://www.youtube.com/watch/cDjODRpuXrU

00:00:00.720 Sucked forcefully into an oil-coated 30-inch underwater pipeline at immense  

00:00:06.180 speed. These five men found themselves in an unimaginable waking nightmare,  

00:00:11.400 but only one of them would live to tell the tale. A GoPro camera mounted on one of the  

00:00:17.400 divers recorded the exact moment disaster struck. What it unveils will send shivers down your spine. 

00:00:26.400 On February 25, 2022, at the Berth 6 platform in Pointe-a-Pierre, the men of LMCS: Fyzal Kurban,  

00:00:35.580 Kazim Ali Jr., Rishi Nagassar, Yusuf Henry, and Christopher Boodram were tasked  

00:00:42.180 with maintenance work on a dormant pipeline.The pipeline belonged to Paria Fuel Company,  

00:00:47.520 a government-owned oil company in Trinidad and Tobago. The pipe in question was a 30-inch  

00:00:54.600 U-shaped pipeline which runs along the seabed. It was designed to transport oil from Berth 6, where  

00:01:01.740 ships unload their oil, to Berth 5, the refinery.While some risk was involved, the five-person  

00:01:09.060 diving team were well-prepared and experienced divers. The team placed an air tube inside a  

00:01:15.540 diving bell, a unique habitat shaped like an eight-foot cube. The diving structure provided  

00:01:22.020 a dry workspace for the LMCS maintenance team.LMCS installed the cube structure over the  

00:01:29.760 pipe at Berth 6 to displace the water inside the work area. The cube created a pressure  

00:01:35.940 pocket of air that forced out the ocean water to create an appropriate workspace.  

00:01:41.520 Once ready, this work area allowed the crew to remove their diving gear and safely use  

00:01:47.220 their tools to perform their essential work.Undoubtedly, they had completed the procedure  

00:01:53.160 hundreds of times. As the five veteran divers performed their duties, it was business as usual.

00:01:59.520 Until it wasn't. 

00:02:02.220 The company installed an inflatable plug two weeks earlier to protect the pipe's oil and  

00:02:08.039 prevent contamination. The line wasn't in service then, though it could be put into  

00:02:12.900 service when needed. The industry calls this "Dead Legs," and it isn't without its risks. 

00:02:18.540 While this is standard procedure, the process requires intense planning, process hazard risk  

00:02:25.320 assessment, and close monitoring. Through intense planning and discussions, preparing  

00:02:28.500 for maintenance jobs like this can take days, if not longer.  

00:02:32.640 Unfortunately, this likely means the oil company wasn't willing to prepare for a safe operation. 

00:02:39.060 But like most employees, the five divers were following orders. The divers descended to their  

00:02:45.180 worksite, unaware of the surprise. As it turns out, inflatable plugs like this are pressurized,  

00:02:51.960 holding back the high-pressure air in the diving bell and the low-pressure air in the pipe itself. 

00:02:58.200 These events created the formula for disaster. Once Ali Jr. handed a wrench  

00:03:04.200 to his crewmates in the diving bell, they began loosening the valve to release the plug.

00:03:10.440 The five divers had no warning. As soon as they released the plug, the pressure difference turned  

00:03:16.440 the inside of the pipe into a relentless vortex, ruthlessly sucking in air, water,  

00:03:22.140 people, and equipment into its depths. The power of the suction was too strong,  

00:03:28.140 and a torrent of water surged into the diving bell, turning their sanctuary into a death trap. 

00:03:34.620 The sudden influx of water and pressure differential unleashed a force that yanked  

00:03:40.500 the men and their tools into the narrow pipeline. In the blink of an eye, they found themselves  

00:03:45.960 hurtling violently through a whirlpool of water and oil for an agonizing 90 seconds, fighting  

00:03:52.320 for oxygen. Suddenly, they came to a stop.They gathered themselves and assessed their  

00:03:58.500 positions in the pipe, realizing the gravity of their situation. They discovered that the violent  

00:04:04.500 tornado of water, air, and oil left them settled somewhere in the line where an air pocket allowed  

00:04:10.740 them to breathe. The sole survivor, Christopher Boodram, vividly recounts how it went down:

00:05:19.140 Their struggle for survival was only beginning. The men were trapped inside a 1,200-foot-long  

00:05:25.380 oil pipe, disoriented, injured, and in absolute terror. Amidst this chaos and fear,  

00:05:32.280 the men tried to communicate and keep each other's spirits up. 

00:05:36.240 However, the reality of their situation squashed down any hope of survival.  

00:05:42.000 The GoPro that had been with them for the dive recorded every second of their plight,  

00:05:46.680 capturing the sheer terror and sounds of struggle as the men fought for their lives. 

00:05:52.680 Chris initially believed they had been hurled through the pipe headfirst,  

00:05:56.640 so they had to crawl backward to make it out of the pipe. But Kazim, Yusuf,  

00:06:01.980 and Fyzal were sure they had gone in foot first. So, he trusted the judgment of the majority. 

00:06:08.340 As the least injured diver, Chris placed his feet on Kazim’s shoulders. He then  

00:06:13.620 instructed Kazim to pull the rest of the group together and directed Fyzal to push  

00:06:18.360 everyone since he was at the back. Linked together as a chain, and with Chris in front,  

00:06:23.280 they started trying to make it out of the pipe.

00:06:27.000 Squeezing their way through thick, slippery oil residue in pitch-black darkness was unbearable.  

00:06:33.180 Dealing with broken bones, burning eyes, a burning throat, and extreme discomfort weighed  

00:06:39.780 them down. Their progress was excruciatingly slow, and the end was nowhere in sight. 

00:06:45.600 The men kept praying and moving to the best of their abilities. They eventually came across  

00:06:52.200 two oxygen tanks with the regulators still attached. Chris informed the men  

00:06:57.120 that breathing the air inside the pipe could make them delirious and nauseous. 

00:07:01.440 He advised them to take small sips from the tank in intervals to keep clear oxygen in  

00:07:07.500 their system. Although they found oxygen tanks, water levels rose as they progressed. Christopher  

00:07:14.220 noticed that some group members struggled to breathe and suffered various injuries. 

00:07:18.720 Others were blocked and unable to move. He decided to check how much the water would rise if they  

00:07:25.260 continued. Chris came to a horrifying discovery.As he moved forward, Chris came to a horrifying  

00:07:29.640 discovery. The next segment of the pipe was entirely underwater,  

00:07:33.840 and with just two oxygen tanks for five individuals, it wasn't safe to proceed  

00:07:39.300 any further. Chris knew that if they attempted to go through together, they would panic and  

00:07:39.977 potentially kill each other in the process.Knowing this, Chris had to make the hardest  

00:07:42.780 decision of his life. He had to continue alone to get help for everyone. Chris prepared himself to  

00:07:49.860 tell the others. After explaining the situation to them, they agreed it was their only chance  

00:07:55.140 and gave Chris one of the oxygen tanks.Chris promised that he would get help and  

00:08:00.960 come back for them. Kazim begged Chris to stay with them even though he eventually agreed he  

00:08:01.593 could not let go of Chris's foot. Chris was forced to pull and yank his foot off Kazim and left.

00:08:02.280 Still not entirely sure if he was going in the right direction and how much air he had  

00:08:07.740 left in the tank, he swam through the submerged section with the tank in front of him. hoping  

00:08:13.260 he would find another air pocket soon.The entire pipe had flooded sections,  

00:08:18.660 and some contained air pockets. After fighting to make his way underwater, he realized his oxygen  

00:08:24.960 was running out based on his air quality. With his diving instincts in overdrive,  

00:08:30.060 he breathed the last air in his tank.As if fate intervened, his tank collided  

00:08:36.120 with another metal object before him. It was another oxygen tank. He quickly tried  

00:08:41.760 to find the new tank’s regulator.After scrambling in pitch-black,  

00:08:46.260 he finally found it, but the regulator had no mouthpiece, so he pushed the whole thing in his  

00:08:52.320 mouth. It was like drinking expired motor oil from an old car; his mouth was covered in oily sludge. 

00:08:55.800 He managed to take a relieved breath from the tank. He knew he couldn’t stop and continued  

00:09:02.040 with all his strength, uncertain how long he could survive. Worse still,  

00:09:05.488 how much time did his brothers have, and were they faring any better than when he left them?

00:09:05.580 As he clambered through the pipe, he finally entered another air pocket. Yet, instinctively,  

00:09:11.700 he knew his only escape was returning to the riser. He was determined but did not know how much  

00:09:14.705 more he could endure in this dangerous place with no light, no sense of direction, no room to move,  

00:09:14.805 and a dwindling air supply. His eyes and throat burning, his body sore, Christopher clawed his  

00:09:14.900 way through the slick, watery pipeline.Unfortunately, this section of the pipe  

00:09:17.640 was half full of water. He found another air tank and reached the last flooded section before the  

00:09:23.460 riser. At this time, he heard Fyzal calling out his name; he had been following Chris. 

00:09:30.360 He asked Chris to wait before he entered the last flooded section. But Chris told  

00:09:35.400 him he couldn’t wait any longer, that they had been in the pipe too long, and that  

00:09:39.960 their time was running out. They discussed the likelihood that they were heading to Berth #6. 

00:09:40.979 Chris had to move on without Fyzal. After ensuring Fyzal had an oxygen tank,  

00:09:41.056 Chris had no option but to enter the water. He continued until he  

00:09:43.020 found the bend in the pipe that he hoped would lead to salvation. 

00:09:46.320 After what seemed like hours, this next decision would decide his fate.

00:09:51.360 This was the moment of truth. Either this was Berth 5 which was sealed off by a plug or this was  

00:09:58.200 Berth 6 where they came from. As he made up his mind for the third time to die, with one last push  

00:10:04.740 of determination, he kicked off towards the riser.As Chris continued to swim, he realized how tired  

00:10:11.940 he was, but he was determined to make it out and save his crew. With oil burning his eyes  

00:10:15.791 and his lungs and fatigue making his body heavy, Chris eventually reached the top of the pipe.

00:10:18.960 Though he survived the ordeal, it wasn't over yet. As Christopher recounted the situation  

00:10:24.900 to the medical care staff. He recounted as many details as possible about the men  

00:10:30.000 and their position. Unfortunately, the rest of the LMCS team couldn't believe  

00:10:35.040 Christopher's story. The company assumed that the pipeline was full  

00:10:39.000 of oil and that any oxygen tanks they had would only give them an hour of air each. 

00:10:44.880 Rescue divers from the LMCS team dove down and knocked on the pipe, trying to find where  

00:10:50.940 the men were. They received the satisfying sounds of someone knocking back, undoubtedly  

00:10:56.460 providing the trapped men hope. But the LMCS team had yet to find a way to get them out. 

00:11:03.120 As the hours ticked by, the four injured divers suffered through their injuries, dealing with  

00:11:09.300 dwindling air, a curtain of suffocating oil fumes, rising seawater, and carbon dioxide.  

00:11:16.140 Though it seemed that Paria Trading Company and LMCS would initially save the four men,  

00:11:21.660 a rescue never came. The four men realized no rescue was coming, intensifying their horror. 

00:11:23.520 The company pulled the four remaining bodies days after the incident began.  

00:11:28.500 They performed autopsies, but no one could agree on when each man died.  

00:11:34.500 Officials decided they survived until Saturday, but some speculated that one endured until Monday.

00:11:41.520 Officials launched a commission of enquiry in Trinidad and Tobago to investigate the  

00:11:46.800 circumstances that led to the Paria Diving Tragedy. Christopher Boodram appeared  

00:13:27.480 before  

00:14:04.380 the commission to testify about  

00:15:43.980 his experience, recounting the gut-wrenching events.

# tactiq.io free youtube transcript

# Sucked Through a Tiny Hole - Byford Dolphin Incident

# https://www.youtube.com/watch/j8XgLX5FLdY

00:00:00.080 DECOMPRESSED violently, in an instant. The six men of the Byford Dolphin oil rig found themselves in  

00:00:07.240 history's most gruesome diving accident. What began as a routine Saturation dive ended up  

00:00:13.360 in absolute horror. However, only one would make it out, and not without severe injuries.

00:00:20.520 On Saturday, November 5th, 1983, while drilling in the Frigg gas field in  

00:00:25.880 the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, the divers Roy P. Lucas, Edwin Coward,  

00:00:31.400 Truls Hellevik and Bjørn Giæver Bergersen were tasked with maintenance, deep beneath  

00:00:36.720 the rig. Assisting them were two brave dive tenders, William Crammond and Martin Saunders.

00:00:43.160 Truls Hellevik and Bjørn Bergersen descended to a depth of 295 feet for maintenance on the rig's  

00:00:49.760 bottom frame of the drilling infrastructure.The ability to reach such depths was made possible  

00:00:54.600 through the use of a diving bell, which could be connected to a set of chambers where the divers  

00:00:59.920 temporarily lived. Unlike other divers, they spend up to 28 days in a cramped high-pressure  

00:01:05.880 chamber, working, eating, and sleeping.On the Byford Dolphin, the oil company  

00:01:11.240 expected the divers to work long 18-hour shifts on barely 3 hours’ worth of sleep before forcing  

00:01:17.760 them to work again. The pay was excellent, often averaging $30,000 to $45,000 a month, but the work  

00:01:25.360 environment was claustrophobic and challenging.The oil rig relied on hundreds of crew members to  

00:01:31.280 work very hard at the same time. But they had no idea what was about to happen. The four divers'  

00:01:37.320 routine procedures would soon become a nightmare.As they entered their pressurized living chambers,  

00:01:44.120 the bell chambers consisted of Chamber One, Chamber Two, an escape capsule attached on top of  

00:01:49.920 a lifeboat, and a trunk that was connected to the diving bell. The bell would then clamp onto this  

00:01:55.600 trunk as the two diving tenders, William Crammond and Martins Saunders, operated it from the  

00:02:01.120 outside on the rig. The pressurized chambers were stationed on the rig, while the diving bell could  

00:02:06.760 be separated to descend to the required depth. This setup allowed for the optimal utilization  

00:02:12.440 of time and resources, streamlining the transition between the high-pressure underwater environment  

00:02:18.560 and the pressurized living quarters.When diving below the surface of the water,  

00:02:23.200 pressure is a diver's worst enemy. Ambient pressure increases by approximately 1 atmosphere  

00:02:29.480 for every 33 feet of water depth. Each additional atmosphere adds a crushing force equivalent  

00:02:36.320 to 14.6 pounds per square meter on the body.It’s inevitable, but these saturation divers  

00:02:40.383 face severe limitations due to the nature of their work. The main issue with diving is  

00:02:42.160 not descending to high pressures but returning from those depths. When submerged deep enough,  

00:02:47.760 the increasing water pressure causes nitrogen and helium to dissolve into the bloodstream,  

00:02:53.080 saturating it in proportion to the rise in pressure. This saturation occurs as the divers  

00:02:58.120 breathe a specialized mixture of gases inside the chambers, typically including helium and oxygen,  

00:03:04.080 known as “heliox”. This mixture is adjusted based on the depth of the dive. Hence,  

00:03:09.040 the term 'Saturation diving'.If divers resurface too quickly,  

00:03:13.200 the rapid pressure release leads to decompression sickness, or "the bends."  

00:03:17.840 This condition forces the dissolved nitrogen in the bloodstream to become a gas again,  

00:03:22.600 forming nitrogen bubbles throughout the body.The bends can cause nausea, dizziness,  

00:03:28.080 severe joint pain, paralysis, and even death. The only way to prevent decompression sickness  

00:03:34.320 is to cautiously return to the surface, allowing sufficient time for the nitrogen  

00:03:38.920 to diffuse naturally. However, the oil industry isn't known for its patience 

00:03:43.840 On this routine day, the life support technicians ensured that the air composition in the hyperbaric  

00:03:49.400 chambers matched what the divers needed to breathe underwater. At the same time,  

00:03:54.080 the dive control team operated the diving bell, which they raised and lowered on a  

00:03:58.520 crane as they monitored the divers' activities.At 4 AM, Truls Hellevik and Bjørn Bergersen  

00:04:05.160 had just completed their maintenance work at a pressure of 9 atmospheres required for a depth of  

00:04:10.840 295 feet and ascended back to the surface using the diving bell. Upon reaching the surface, the  

00:04:17.480 diving bell needed to be reattached to the diving chambers, both operating at the same atmospheric  

00:04:23.640 pressure. Meanwhile, on the surface, Roy Lucas and Edwin Coward were resting, ready to take over  

00:04:29.720 the next shift when Truls and Bjørn returned.One of the most crucial roles in Saturation  

00:04:35.160 diving belongs to the Tenders, who assist with deploying and retrieving the Umbilical.  

00:04:40.400 The umbilical is the physical lifeline of the divers, a thick line connecting the diver's  

00:04:45.440 air supply and communication with the surface.In the past, Tenders were also responsible for  

00:04:51.000 docking the diving bell to the pressurized living chambers, as was the case on the  

00:04:55.480 Byford Dolphin. The Tenders hold the lives of their diving comrades in their hands. However,  

00:05:01.400 they were already working for over 12 hours.The two experienced Tenders, William Crammond  

00:05:07.240 and Martin Saunders, were ready to connect the diving bell back on to the hyperbaric  

00:05:11.960 living chambers, as Truls Hellevik and Bjørn Bergersen returned from the depths. 

00:05:16.920 Crammond successfully connected the diving bell to the living chambers and safely  

00:05:21.440 deposited Bjørn Bergersen and Truls Hellevik in chamber one. This diving team had repeatedly  

00:05:27.560 performed the process and knew it by heart.Under normal circumstances, depositing divers  

00:05:32.960 into the rest area and removing the diving bell was reasonably straightforward. It goes like this: 

00:05:39.000 1. Close the diving bell door, which would have been open to the trunk. 

00:05:43.160 2. Slightly increase the pressure in the diving bell to seal the bell door tightly. 

00:05:48.320 3. Close the chamber 1 door, which was also open to the trunk. 

00:05:52.560 4. Slowly depressurize the trunk until it reaches a pressure of 1 atmosphere. 

00:05:58.120 5. Open the clamp to separate the diving bell from the chamber system. 

00:06:03.040 Suddenly, all hell broke loose! Crammond opened the clamp, causing a chain reaction that violently  

00:06:09.720 decompressed the chambers. The diving bell disconnected before the chamber doors fully  

00:06:14.400 closed, releasing an "explosive depressurization." The pressure differential tore through the living  

00:06:20.640 chambers, yanking Hellevik off his feet as it indiscriminately rampaged around the deck. 

00:06:26.480 The air pressure inside the bell instantly shifted from 9 atmospheres — the pressure experienced  

00:06:31.960 while 297 feet below the water — to 1 atmosphere, the average air pressure at the surface. 

00:06:38.520 The explosive rush of air out of the chamber sent the heavy diving bell  

00:06:42.560 flying. The diving bell struck Crammond and Saunders, critically wounding them. 

00:06:47.720 Either Crammond disconnected the diving bell without receiving an order to do so, or the diving  

00:06:52.760 leader ordered the coupling lock to be removed despite the tunnel still being pressurized. 

00:06:57.800 Crammond ultimately succumbed to his injuries. Although Saunders survived his injuries,  

00:07:02.720 he didn’t walk away unscathed. When crew members found him in the aftermath,  

00:07:07.240 he was partially under the 4-ton diving bell. His lungs collapsed from his injuries. 

00:07:13.080 He also suffered from 3 fractures in his back and a broken neck. But the fate of  

00:07:18.240 the four divers inside was far worse. While it's impossible to confirm this, the speed  

00:07:24.120 of the violent and unplanned decompression gave the four divers an instant and painless death. 

00:07:30.160 Decompression like this is a death sentence, and no one would or could survive. One difference  

00:07:36.200 between the recent Ocean Gate disaster and the Byford Dolphin incident is that  

00:07:40.600 the diver's remains weren't lost to the sea. Knowing what precisely happened to these poor,  

00:07:45.720 unfortunate souls provides little comfort and very real images of the torture their  

00:07:50.960 bodies went through which can still be found in the official reports of the incident. 

00:07:55.680 The divers never once realized what happened to them nor felt the terrible  

00:07:59.840 effects of their horrible deaths. Despite their proximity to the door, Lucas, Coward,  

00:08:05.120 and Bergersen's blood "boiled" instantly in their bodies as enormous amounts of dissolved  

00:08:10.680 nitrogen suddenly returned to their gaseous state.The divers died instantly. After the blood boiled  

00:08:16.135 from nitrogen expansion, fat accumulated and solidified in their arteries, veins, hearts,  

00:08:20.360 and livers. The explosion of force from the gas expansion scattered the blood and the bodies of  

00:08:25.960 the divers throughout the inside of the chamber.While the events left Lucas, Bergersen,  

00:08:31.000 and Coward unrecognizable, Hellevik suffered the worst death since he was the closest to  

00:08:36.360 the connecting door. The pressure equalization caused the door to chamber one to partially jam,  

00:08:42.120 causing Hellevik’s body to be forced through a small, 24-inch crescent-shaped opening with a  

00:08:47.960 tremendous force of 25 tons Unable to fit through, the sheer pressure resulted in  

00:08:53.880 the horrifying outcome of his internal organs bursting out of his body through the opening. 

00:08:59.400 During the examination, investigators found Hellevik's spinal column, part of his windpipe,  

00:09:04.840 and some of his small intestine left behind inside the bell. His other organs looked intact, almost  

00:09:11.000 as if they were harvested or expertly dissected and then forcefully ejected from his body. 

00:09:12.480 In the end, the incident resulted in a total fatality count of 5 and the brutality of the  

00:09:18.200 accident left little blood behind despite the shredded state of the diver's bodies. 

00:09:23.560 At first, people were quick to blame the crew, a potential miscommunication, or poor routines as  

00:09:29.320 the causes of the accident. The crew worked over 12 hours on many occasions – a mistake  

00:09:34.840 could have easily happened. However, no one could identify the exact factors behind the  

00:09:40.400 decision to unlatch the system incorrectly and expose everyone to such horrible deaths. And with  

00:09:46.200 Crammond having passed away, the true reason for him opening the clamp was forever lost. 

00:09:51.720 To minimize the considerable risks, only flawless execution of every operation detail,  

00:09:57.640 most importantly the pressure-driven transfer, can help crews avoid this catastrophic outcome.  

00:10:03.640 However, the North Sea Divers Alliance, a group of activists made up of active  

00:10:08.280 divers and the victims’ relatives, believed that negligent higher-ups issued the Byford Dolphin  

00:10:13.720 divers faulty equipment. They maintained that the pressure chamber system was obsolete, lacking the  

00:10:19.520 necessary fail-safes to prevent the disaster.It's important to mention that the crew's  

00:10:24.200 equipment during the operation was from 1975 and didn't have modern fail-safe  

00:10:29.680 features. One key missing feature was an interlocking mechanism, which would have  

00:10:34.360 prevented Crammond from opening the trunk while the bell was still under pressure. As a result,  

00:10:39.480 officials revised Norwegian regulations to mandate interlock mechanisms for all bell systems. 

00:10:45.920 Still, many people believed the sole cause of the accident was the locking  

00:10:50.000 mechanism. But decades later, the story changed.Regrettably, it took decades for the Norwegian  

00:10:53.840 government, which was in charge of the Byford Dolphin in 1983, to acknowledge  

00:10:58.680 their responsibility for the incident and compensate the families of the deceased men. 

00:11:03.880 It was only in 2009 that the government provided undisclosed settlements to the  

00:11:08.520 families of all six victims, including Saunders. According to the report,  

00:11:13.440 faulty equipment caused the accident rather than human error. In addition to faulty equipment, the  

00:11:19.120 loud environment interfering with communications and unclear orders contributed to the accident. 

00:11:25.000 The Byford Dolphin rig was a prominent fixture in offshore drilling for over four decades,  

00:11:30.480 operating in various locations worldwide. By 2016, they decommissioned the Byford Dolphin  

00:11:36.480 rig, ending the saga of its eventful and storied career in the oil and gas industry.

# tactiq.io free youtube transcript

# DNA Destroyed in Nanoseconds - Most Radioactive man

# https://www.youtube.com/watch/lkikVAcRjNk

00:00:00.120 DECOMPOSED, alive gruesomely by extreme levels of radiation. Hisashi Ouchi found himself in  

00:00:07.680 one of the most catastrophic nuclear accidents in history. What began as a routine day at the  

00:00:13.920 nuclear facility ended in unimaginable suffering and a prolonged 83-day battle for his survival.

00:00:21.800 On September 30th, 1999, at the Tokaimura nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Japan,  

00:00:28.560 technicians Hisashi Ouchi, Masato Shinohara, and their supervisor, Yutaka Yokokawa,  

00:00:34.760 began their regular routine of preparing and handling dangerous uranium materials. 

00:00:40.000 Many people understand the toxicity of work culture,  

00:00:43.120 but no one understands it better than the Japanese. Hisashi Ouchi and his  

00:00:47.760 colleagues were caught in a deadly pursuit of deadlines, thanks to corporate greed,  

00:00:52.520 cutting corners, and a deeply-ingrained Japanese work culture that often disregards worker safety. 

00:00:59.040 At that time, Japan’s energy economy relied heavily on foreign imports until it realized  

00:01:04.680 that the country needed to expand its energy sources. This put extreme pressure on the  

00:01:09.800 energy industry, which put workers like Ouchi at risk and increased suicide rates. 

00:01:15.400 The Tokai Nuclear Power Plant was Japan's first nuclear power station. Fuel for the plant was  

00:01:21.160 processed at the Tokaimura facility, operated by the Japan Nuclear Fuel Conversion Company,  

00:01:27.080 JCO. At Tokaimura, workers converted uranium hexafluoride into enriched uranium dioxide. This  

00:01:34.720 was then further processed into pellets at other facilities. The pellets were placed into tubes,  

00:01:40.280 sealed, and assembled into fuel rods, which is the primary fuel used to generate nuclear power.

00:01:46.520 But what transpired isn’t as simple as carelessness. The lack of proper  

00:01:51.160 knowledge and care for worker safety would soon become their ultimate nightmare.

00:01:56.920 On that fateful day, Ouchi and his colleagues began their day as usual. One of the nuclear  

00:02:02.480 plant technician's main responsibilities is managing uranium mixing in three crucial  

00:02:07.600 steps. First, in the dissolution tank, the automated system mixes a 5% concentration  

00:02:13.480 of uranium powder and nitric acid.The second step involves a cylindrically  

00:02:18.240 shaped buffer tank designed to prevent the uranium from reaching accidental criticality,  

00:02:23.680 also known as a nuclear fission chain reaction. Additionally, this tank controls the drip of  

00:02:29.400 uranium into the third and final step, the precipitation tank. The reactions during this  

00:02:35.080 process create an intense amount of heat that must be removed. Using a cooling water jacket  

00:02:40.840 that surrounds the tank to remove the heat, the technicians oversee the system as it carefully  

00:02:46.120 mixes the uranium in this final step.However, three years before the accident,  

00:02:51.440 JCO altered their procedure to speed up production of this highly dangerous material by skipping  

00:02:57.440 crucial steps due to the increasing demand for fuel rods. To meet expectations, JCO bypassed  

00:03:04.240 regulatory approval and allowed them to illegally mix the uranium powder in stainless steel buckets  

00:03:10.400 instead of using the automated equipment.To make it even worse, JCO was behind  

00:03:15.360 schedule with the production of fuel rods, putting even more pressure on  

00:03:19.240 the already overworked technicians.So they decided to perform an already  

00:03:23.600 hastened process even more recklessly. They also took efficiency to a new level by completely  

00:03:29.880 removing their protective equipment and wearing only casual, comfortable clothing.

00:03:34.680 This is when things got extremely dangerous.

00:03:37.920 At approximately 10:35 a.m. unaware of the impending danger, Ouchi and Shinohara began  

00:03:44.160 mixing the uranium powder into a steel bucket but instead exceeded the legal concentration limit by  

00:03:50.400 seven times. Yokokawa watched from an office desk, overseeing the process as Ouchi leaned his body  

00:03:57.200 over the precipitation tank while Shinohara stood on a platform to assist in pouring the solution…

00:04:03.920 Suddenly, the gamma radiation alarms began to sound. They had made a horrifying mistake,  

00:04:09.920 triggering an uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction. A flash of blue light, known as Cherenkov  

00:04:16.040 radiation, lit up the room as it released massive amounts of energy and gamma particles,  

00:04:21.600 which proceeded to bombard the surrounding area with lethal doses of gamma radiation. 

00:04:27.200 The sudden burst of energy from the nuclear chain reaction caused charged particles like  

00:04:32.240 electrons to move faster than the speed of light in the surrounding medium, generating  

00:04:37.080 a blinding blue shockwave and confirming the occurrence of an uncontrolled nuclear  

00:04:42.480 fission reaction with catastrophic results.The safe exposure limit for technicians and  

00:04:48.000 those working around nuclear materials is 20 to 50 millisieverts per year. The crew received a  

00:04:54.480 massive dose of approximately 30,000 millisieverts combined. Ouchi received the most radiation,  

00:05:01.400 absorbing over 17,000 millisieverts, since he was closest to the explosive reaction, while  

00:05:07.400 Shinohara received 10,000 millisieverts. Being much further away, Yokokawa only received a dose  

00:05:14.080 of 3,000 millisieverts. While the three-person crew fled the scene immediately, none of them  

00:05:19.800 could get far, thanks to the excruciating pain now searing through their bodies. 

00:05:25.520 As they rapidly became nauseous and short of breath, Ouchi and Shinohara rushed towards the  

00:05:31.160 decontamination room, where Ouchi vomited and ultimately lost consciousness. Once  

00:05:36.640 the fuel processing plant officials realized the situation, they immediately evacuated the rest of  

00:05:42.160 the employees to prevent more radiation exposures.Officials took the three men to the National  

00:05:47.760 Institute of Radiological Sciences in Chiba. Yet, once they realized the nature of Ouchi’s case,  

00:05:53.960 they decided to transfer him to the University of Tokyo Hospital, where there are more qualified  

00:05:59.240 staff along with advanced equipment to treat and support Ouchi’s recovery 

00:06:03.960 On the evening of September 30th, Ouchi arrived at the hospital in good spirits and,  

00:06:09.280 at least on the outside, seemed fine. But as they soon learned, looks can be deceiving. Nurses noted  

00:06:15.840 his swollen arm and seemingly sunburnt skin, but several believed he would go home soon.

00:06:21.720 But little did they know,  

00:06:23.200 this was only the beginning of one of the most gruesome deaths in history.

00:06:27.760 Adding insult to injury, JCO officials painted Ouchi and his colleagues as fools who wanted to  

00:06:34.040 leave work earlier. They claimed they mixed the uranium powder in buckets of their own  

00:06:38.680 free will to save time. Despite Ouchi's positive attitude, his condition was dire. 

00:06:44.840 When the hospital staff learned about his workplace accident,  

00:06:48.040 they ordered a biopsy of his bone marrow. The human body steadily replaces old cells over time,  

00:06:54.360 thanks to the chromosomes inside our body. Chromosomes contain our DNA and the blueprint  

00:06:59.760 for the repairing process. Without this natural mechanism,  

00:07:03.120 we wouldn’t survive and neither would Ouchi.As the doctors received the test results,  

00:07:08.320 they realized that this fundamental mechanism in his cells was damaged beyond repair. Ouchi’s  

00:07:14.200 chromosomes were either fused together abnormally, or broken into small pieces from the radiation  

00:07:19.880 blast, showing no signs of their expected shape. His DNA was so badly damaged that the repairing  

00:07:26.720 process was nonexistent. Their grim discovery made them soon realize that Ouchi’s case was  

00:07:32.960 no mere case of minor radiation sickness.Despite Ouchi looking fine, this period  

00:07:38.920 of good health would be short-lived as the doctors described him as being in what is  

00:07:43.360 called the “Walking Ghost Phase.” During this phase, the patient may appear healty  

00:07:48.920 but is actually in a very fragile state, which could potentially last for hours or even days.

00:07:55.240 In short, Ouchi was a ticking time bomb and his excruciating suffering was about to begin.

00:08:02.160 Imagine living in a world where every door handle is potentially lethal and a simple handshake  

00:08:08.240 could be your last. This is the constant, nerve-wracking reality for someone with an  

00:08:13.680 almost nonexistent immune system. The emotional toll is immense—every interaction, every outing,  

00:08:20.800 every meal becomes a calculated risk.For Ouchi, this was his new reality,  

00:08:26.280 and to combat this new danger, the head physician, Kazuhiko Maekawa, decided that  

00:08:31.680 a sterile environment was his best chance at survival. Having zero white blood cells, the  

00:08:37.240 35-year-old technician’s immune system was useless in a fight against many once harmless pathogens. 

00:08:43.840 But with the constant threat of infections out of the way, his medical team knew that he needed  

00:08:48.800 a healthy supply of fresh chromosomes to help his body heal. Fortunately, there was an experimental  

00:08:54.880 cancer treatment called a Hematopoietic Stem Cell transplant. His body needed the biological fuel  

00:09:01.520 to create new cells and replace his damaged ones.The experimental treatment would take donor bone  

00:09:07.640 marrow cells and inject them into Ouchi. The idea is that these new cells would give his body the  

00:09:13.840 materials needed to start producing healthy bone marrow cells again. Being experimental,  

00:09:19.320 successful treatment required someone with an immune system that closely matched Ouchi’s. 

00:09:24.680 Fortunately, the medical staff were able to find a suitable donor in Ouchi’s sister. With those  

00:09:29.473 formalities out of the way, the team went to work administering the experimental treatment. 

00:09:33.440 Although Ouchi was the first person in the world to receive this treatment,  

00:09:36.920 the doctors were hopeful. Yet, they did not want to mince words with Ouchi’s family. They needed  

00:09:42.480 to understand the gravity of his situation and the likely result of his exposure. 

00:09:47.440 Ouchi himself didn’t fully grasp the gravity of his situation. He asked the nurses if he  

00:09:53.000 could go home soon and also asked about the risk of developing leukemia from such  

00:09:57.480 high radiation exposure. However, he did not have the luxury of time to develop leukemia  

00:10:03.080 and the effects of radiation poisoning began to set in sooner rather than later. 

00:10:07.800 Ouchi’s skin lost its youthful elasticity, peeling off as medical staff removed the medical tape  

00:10:14.200 holding the many machines hooked up to his body. This meant that his doctors couldn’t use medical  

00:10:19.320 tape or adhesives of any kind on his skin. Soon after, the poor man’s lung filled with fluid,  

00:10:25.960 stifling his ability to breathe or speak.As the fluid continued to build up in his lungs,  

00:10:31.600 it sapped his remaining strength, keeping him bedridden. Though he couldn’t move or speak much,  

00:10:37.400 Ouchi still expressed his love for his wife and family members who had  

00:10:41.360 yet to leave his side. But his condition worsened again, the fluid in his lungs  

00:10:46.240 robbing of his ability to breathe on his own.Ouchi’s medical team set him up on assisted  

00:10:51.560 breathing, holding on hope that his treatments would begin to heal his damaged body. About ten  

00:10:57.440 days after the stem cell transplant, Dr. Maekawa performed another test to see if the treatment  

00:11:03.000 was successful. Miraculously, his sister’s stem cells were seen throughout his body,  

00:11:08.440 indicating that the treatment had worked.In the following days, his white blood  

00:11:13.000 cell count reached normal levels again. This was good news, but like the “Walking Ghost  

00:11:18.360 Phase,” it was short-lived. In the next week, Ouchi’s condition started to get worse again.

00:11:24.640 This is when things got really out of hand.

00:11:27.600 Frustrated, Dr. Maekawa performed an endoscopy to find out what had gone wrong and why the  

00:11:33.440 treatment failed. What he discovered revealed the true nature of Ouchi’s struggle and what  

00:11:38.640 he was about to endure. The endoscopy revealed that the protective membrane in his intestine  

00:11:44.040 had died and was sloughing off.Without the healthy membrane,  

00:11:47.880 the human body can’t absorb water, nutrients, or get any nourishment from food. This meant that  

00:11:53.840 either death from starvation or dehydration would be Ouchi’s end. Even this news wasn’t  

00:11:59.640 the worst of what was in store for Ouchi.Dr. Maekawa and his team investigated further,  

00:12:05.600 focusing on the transplanted stem cells. Because of the radiation blast, the exposure left residual  

00:12:11.840 radiation in Ouchi’s body, which corrupted the healthy transplanted cells, ultimately  

00:12:17.400 failing to regenerate his immune system. Now, Ouchi was worse than when he came in and his  

00:12:23.400 suffering was about to increase exponentially.He began to suffer from intestinal issues,  

00:12:29.200 producing about 3 liters of diarrhea a day. The fluid loss continued to get worse as he  

00:12:34.720 lost complete control of his bowels and began to bleed internally. His bleeding had gotten  

00:12:40.120 worse due to the loss of the protective membrane.The blood loss was so catastrophic that doctors  

00:12:45.840 had to replace it with ten blood transfusions per day. This also meant that Ouchi was in  

00:12:51.440 constant pain, needing a drip of Fentanyl to ease his suffering. His skin continued to  

00:12:56.960 blister and peel off to the point where his body could no longer hold onto any fluids. 

00:13:02.480 With the danger of dehydration looming, his medical team worked tirelessly to replace 10  

00:13:07.720 liters of fluid loss per day. The hospital staff wrapped Ouchi in bandages to help  

00:13:12.840 preserve the fluids. But this only made it worse as his skin peeled and seeped fluids. 

00:13:18.680 His fluid loss became so severe that the doctors had to measure just how much he was  

00:13:23.440 losing to know what to replace. The problem was so terrible that replacing all of Ouchi's bandages  

00:13:29.320 took nearly half a day. Finally, Dr. Maekawa began to use skin grafts in a last-ditch  

00:13:35.320 effort to help Ouchi’s body retain fluids.However, with severe dehydration, the skin grafts  

00:13:41.680 couldn’t adhere to Ouchi’s disintegrating skin. His pain was unbearable, but his family remained  

00:13:47.840 hopeful that he would get better. At one point, Ouchi couldn’t open or close his eyes and nurses  

00:13:54.160 even reported seeing him crying blood.While they may have thought it,  

00:13:58.400 his medical team dared not to speak it aloud: Ouchi’s time was running out. 

00:14:03.640 Dr. Maekawa and his medical team worked everyday to help Ouchi,  

00:14:08.040 but their efforts failed. Two months into their work, Ouchi showed no signs of improvement and  

00:14:13.720 had been through unimaginable agony, but his family still wouldn’t give up. Yet, Ouchi  

00:14:19.560 could take no more and just wanted to be home.Finally, Ouchi’s pain became so overwhelming  

00:14:25.920 that the medical staff placed him in a medically induced coma. His temporary improvement was again  

00:14:31.560 short-lived as the doctors realized that his organs were shutting down. First, his  

00:14:36.680 heart was pumping at twice the rate it should’ve been due to the continuous stress on his body. 

00:14:41.880 Though he was in a state of rest, his heart was beating as if he were running a 100-yard dash. It  

00:14:47.760 worked so hard during that time that it stopped beating. Because there was no do-not-resuscitate  

00:14:54.600 order in place, they brought him back.But once they did, his brain, though active, was  

00:15:00.040 barely hanging on by a thread. Shortly after, his liver and kidneys shut down, leaving him entirely  

00:15:06.560 dependent on the machines to keep him alive. Realizing the end was here, Dr. Maekawa spoke  

00:15:12.560 with Ouchi’s family, convincing them to sign the do-not-resuscitate and end Hisashi’s suffering. 

00:15:18.880 Then, on December 21st, 1999, despite the doctor’s best efforts, including revolutionary  

00:15:26.200 stem cell transplants, skin grafts, and blood transfusions, Ouchi's body could not recover.  

00:15:32.560 He died from multiple organ failure. With an end to his suffering, the 35-year-old,  

00:15:36.560 hard-working family man could finally be at peace.Of the three-person crew, Shinohara also died from  

00:15:43.440 his radiation-related injuries. Though exposed to dangerous levels of radiation, Yokokawa  

00:15:49.360 survived the incident, but his involvement in the negligence landed him in heavy legal trouble. 

00:15:54.960 About 49 workers were exposed to the radiation blast. Six officials from JCO,  

00:16:00.680 including Yokokawa, were charged with professional negligence and violating nuclear safety laws. 

00:16:06.840 The company paid 12.6 billion yen to settle compensation claims from affected businesses  

00:16:13.080 and local residents. Soon after, JCO lost their business licenses.