In January, a scientific expedition achieved a historic event. For the first time, descended to more than 8000 meters of depth to investigate the mysteries hidden in the ocean depths of the Atacama Trench, located 160 kilometers from the Chilean coast. However, beyond the great feat, they discovered something that gave them goosebumps and made a call to attention to all humanity.
The The Atacama Trench is a trench more than 8,000 meters deep. located off the coasts of Chile and Peru. Until the beginning of this year no human being saw it directly and with their own eyes, but this changed with the work of scientists from the Millennium Institute of Oceanography at the University of Concepción, Chile, who for the first time descended into the mysteries of the ocean. Along with the great achievement that it meant to meet a goal both personally and professionally, they discovered something that left them completely petrified.
“The feat that human beings reached the bottom of the Atacama Trench for the first time, the news went around the world”, said Osvaldo Ulloa, director of the Millennium Institute of Oceanography. However, not everything was happiness, because they ran into something shocking: at a depth of 8,000 meters they found a blue plastic bag.
“It was a bucket of cold water to verify that, before us, our waste had arrived”, expressed the specialist, who together with Rubén Escribano, deputy director of the Institute, had the opportunity to fulfill his dream and step into the depths of the Peru-Chile Trench for the first time, together with the American explorer Víctor Vescovo, who in 2019, as recorded by the BBCbecame the first person to visit the five deepest points of the five oceans aboard a submersible specially built to accomplish the mission.
the news portal The counter, published the first images of the historic expedition that brought with it a very worrying discovery for all of humanity. In them it was possible to clearly distinguish the blue waste bag that descended more than 8000 meters until reaching the ocean depths. This served as a wake-up call to all people to redouble their efforts and become truly aware of pollution and the damage suffered by the environment.
“Plastics, especially, they will remain at the bottom of the sea for centuriesnot as a milestone of our audacity and technological progress, but of our arrogance and insensitivity to the damage we are causing to the oceans”, said Osvaldo Ulloa, who was able to see with his own eyes the serious consequences of human actions. .
Likewise, the Chilean oceanographer called for awareness of the worrying situation he found when he carried out the mission in January of this year. “The truth is that it is very dramatic to know that there is garbage at more than 8 thousand meters. We need to make an urgent cultural change, stop thinking that the ocean is a big dump”, he concluded.