OceanGate and James Cameron part ways
Ocean Gate/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images; Leon Bennett/Getty Images
Oscar-winning Titanic director James Cameron opened up about the Titanic submarine tragedy, which appears to have killed four passengers and the pilot.
Cameron told ABC News on Thursday: “I am struck by the resemblance to the Titanic disaster itself, where the captain was repeatedly warned of ice ahead of his ship and yet he crashed into an ice field at full speed on a moonless night and much more steamed.” died as a result. It’s a very similar tragedy in the same place. It’s amazing and really quite surreal.”
Noting that he himself is a dive designer and understands the challenges of getting such a device to work, Cameron defended the practice of such dives overall.
“It’s absolutely vital that people take home the message that deep diving is a mature art,” said Cameron. “The safety record is absolutely the gold standard, not only are there fatalities, there are no accidents either. … Naturally [what happened to the Titan is] The nightmare we’ve all lived with, we’ve lived it in the back of our minds.”
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Titanic director James Cameron on the Titanic submersible’s “catastrophic implosion” said: “I am struck by the similarity to the Titanic disaster itself, where the captain was repeatedly warned of ice ahead of his ship, yet he still steamed in at full speed .” an ice field. pic.twitter.com/vO8JkCXS5f
— ABC News (@ABC) June 22, 2023
“Many people in the community were concerned about this submarine and even wrote letters to the company saying their activities were too experimental and needed certification,” he continued.
Cameron’s box office hit Titanic featured plenty of footage of the actual wreckage site and the use of submersibles to explore the ship’s remains.
The US Coast Guard said Thursday the missing submarine imploded near the wreck site and all five on board were killed instantly.
The assessment was based on a search and rescue team finding debris from Titan on the sea floor.
Cameron added that he was personally close to one of Titan’s passengers. “Paul-Henri Nargeolet, the legendary French pilot, is a friend of mine,” Cameron said. “It’s a very small community; I’ve known him for 25 years. The fact that he died tragically in this way is hard to come to terms with.”
The submarine was operated by OceanGate Expeditions, whose CEO Stockton Rush is believed to be among the dead.
The submarine was reported overdue on Sunday afternoon and had become a global headline on Monday as rescue workers, including ships, planes and underwater robots, were rushed to the North Atlantic. The submarine had an estimated four days of oxygen supply, giving the passengers’ families hope that they would still be rescued.
Popping noises were picked up by sonar listening devices on Wednesday, raising hopes that the “Titan Five” may still be alive. But on Thursday, an underwater robot found parts of the Titan near the Titanic wreck. It is believed that the popping noises came from the noise of the Titanic wreck itself and the submarine’s implosion likely occurred before the rescue crew arrived on site.