Associated Press’ top photos of the year 2019 |13 December 2019

Manned submersible surfacing in Seychelles waters make the list

The photo of a manned submersible surfacing after a failed mission to recover a stranded remotely operated vehicle in the Indian Ocean near the Seychelles islands is one of the top photos for the year 2019 captured by Associated Press photographers.

David Keyton took the photo on March 13, 2019.

In March this year, the British-based Nekton mission embarked on an unprecedented exploration of the Indian Ocean to document changes taking place beneath the waves that could affect billions of people in the surrounding region over the coming decades.

During the same mission, President Danny Faure was taken down more than 120 metres in the submersible vehicle Ocean Zephyr, which is being used for a mission called ‘Nekton Deep Ocean Exploration’, on Sunday April 14 when he called for the protection of “the beating blue heart of our planet” while diving deep into the Indian Ocean.

“This issue is bigger than all of us, and we cannot wait for the next generation to solve it. We are running out of excuses to not take action, and running out of time,” said President Faure who has made environmental protection a major priority.

The Nekton mission spent seven weeks studying underwater life, mapping the sea bed and placing captors at depths of up to 2,000 metres in Seychelles’ waters.