Photo: DPL News
Accidents can happen at the most unexpected times, and maybe no amount of preparation can prevent them. Add bad timing into the equation, and you have the recipe for potential disaster.
Ocean Builders is a Panama-based developer that’s been in the news since 2019 when it introduced the concept for the so-called world’s first eco-restorative floating house called the SeaPod. The SeaPod is billed as the house of tomorrow because it’s both eco-friendly and affordable (or will be affordable farther down the line) while also being very stylish, customizable, and offering all the advantages of a floating house and then some.
We covered the SeaPod extensively in a separate story, so to sum up: it’s a pod that uses more than 1,688 cubic feet of air-filled steel tubes to float 7.5 feet (2.2 meters) above the waves. It offers 833 square feet (73 square meters) of living space divided across three and a half levels, and the submerged part is designed to become an ecosystem for marine life. The interior is customizable, with developers aiming for complete self-sufficiency for the unit at some point in time.
On Thursday, at the Linton Bay Marina in Panama, Ocean Builders unveiled the first full-size prototype of the SeaPod, together with another structure that showed the layout of one of the floors, presumably in order to offer viewers a better appreciation of the available space. It seems that the two were connected underwater.
According to German publication Blick, at the end of the star-studded event, which included an appearance by President Laurentino Cortizo, the entire structure toppled and became partly submerged. Videos on social media show that there were people inside the SeaPod when it started to topple.
Local media covered the unveiling of the prototype but strangely made no mention of the incident that saw it lean at an angle. This could be an intentional slip for whatever purpose or due to the fact that the incident happened after the public launch. The one thing certain is that it happened: Blick has video of the structure as it topples to the side and footage that shows the main structure partially in the water, while people in an inflatable are struggling to keep it afloat. The publication claims that the entire structure went underwater afterward, despite these efforts, but Ocean Builders is disputing it.
Ocean Builders is yet to address the incident on any of its official channels. A spokesperson tells Blick that no one was injured and that the incident is under investigation. In a statement to autoevolution, a spokesperson says of the incident that, "like all innovation and new technology, there is a likelihood of trial and error and that provides an opportunity to learn, improve, and continue to innovate on ocean technology." As for what caused it, it was a bilge pump malfunction that affected the balance of a lower steel spar in the prototype, causing flooding. That said, there was no crash and no damage to the prototype, and most importantly, there were no injuries. Contrary to earlier reports, the prototype did not sink.
[Update, September 28]: The story has been updated to include a statement from Ocean Builders on the cause of the incident, and to remove all mentions of the prototype sinking, which were inaccurate.
We covered the SeaPod extensively in a separate story, so to sum up: it’s a pod that uses more than 1,688 cubic feet of air-filled steel tubes to float 7.5 feet (2.2 meters) above the waves. It offers 833 square feet (73 square meters) of living space divided across three and a half levels, and the submerged part is designed to become an ecosystem for marine life. The interior is customizable, with developers aiming for complete self-sufficiency for the unit at some point in time.
On Thursday, at the Linton Bay Marina in Panama, Ocean Builders unveiled the first full-size prototype of the SeaPod, together with another structure that showed the layout of one of the floors, presumably in order to offer viewers a better appreciation of the available space. It seems that the two were connected underwater.
According to German publication Blick, at the end of the star-studded event, which included an appearance by President Laurentino Cortizo, the entire structure toppled and became partly submerged. Videos on social media show that there were people inside the SeaPod when it started to topple.
Local media covered the unveiling of the prototype but strangely made no mention of the incident that saw it lean at an angle. This could be an intentional slip for whatever purpose or due to the fact that the incident happened after the public launch. The one thing certain is that it happened: Blick has video of the structure as it topples to the side and footage that shows the main structure partially in the water, while people in an inflatable are struggling to keep it afloat. The publication claims that the entire structure went underwater afterward, despite these efforts, but Ocean Builders is disputing it.
[Update, September 28]: The story has been updated to include a statement from Ocean Builders on the cause of the incident, and to remove all mentions of the prototype sinking, which were inaccurate.
@OceanBuilders what happened here? #Panama #seapod pic.twitter.com/yOqHsVgqMB
— Marlon Torres ???????? ???????? (@Marlon_PTY) September 23, 2022
Titanic II is gonna be a banger. #seapod
— cheap pontoon (@CheapPontoon) September 24, 2022
pic.twitter.com/nzg7zLKlzj
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