If I’m going to hop on a sub and go 2 miles deep in the ocean, the guy driving better have 20+ years military experience. Also, there aint gonna be shit for insurance coverage here. Lloyd’s is the only one that would consider insuring this particular risk, and they would pass given the fast and cheap nature of this operation.
The primary purpose of having a GL policy is to provide compensation to victims if you have an accident or fuck up, while not bankrupting your business should something unfortunate occur. A secondary reason for having such a policy is it tells your customers that an independent third party took a look at the risk and signed off on putting their money on the line. If they actually obtained insurance coverage the under the facts we know at this point I would be shocked, but the shenanigans with the employee vs. passenger designation probably gives the insurance company wiggle room to not pay. Passengers are much more expensive to insure.
If any entity fails to carry that basic level of coverage, they either don’t care, can’t afford it, or can’t find an insurer willing to underwrite it. You can play fast and loose with your insurance coverage in low risk ventures and maybe get away with it, but with high risk shit you better have your i’s dotted and t’s crossed.