The untethered subs explored a seabed no human eyeshad ever observed for three hours before making the five-and-a-half hour ascent back to the ice hole they had entered.
Frank Larkin, a consultant ophthalmic surgeon at Moorfields said there had been a steady decline in the numbers of eyes donated over the last four to five years.
Xinhua's first SARS report, for leaders' eyes only, did not appear until February 9th, by when there had been some 300 cases and five deaths, dating back to November 2002.