The 'Avatar' filmmaker is 'struck by the similarity' between the 1912 shipwreck to the 'catastrophic explosion' of the submersible after it was declared that all passengers may 'have sadly been lost.'
- Jun 23, 2023
AceShowbiz - Having raised interest in the Titanic shipwreck with his Oscar-winning movie years ago, James Cameron could not help weighing on the real-life disaster that just claimed the lives of five passengers aboard a submersible. The filmmaker compared the OceanGate submarine implosion to the Titanic disaster itself, blaming the captain for the tragedy.
In an interview with ABC News, the "Avatar" director addressed the concerns regarding the safety of the submersible. "Many people in the [deep-submergence engineering] community were very concerned about this sub, and a number of you know of the top players in the community even wrote letters to the company, saying that what they were doing was too experimental to carry passengers and needed to be certified and so on," he said after all passengers of the sub named Titan were declared "lost" in a "catastrophic explosion."
"I'm struck by the similarity of the Titanic disaster itself, where the captain was repeatedly warned about ice ahead of his ship and yet he steamed at full speed into an ice field on a moonless night," the 68-year-old said of the historic shipwreck, which inspired his 1997 romantic film "Titanic". "And many people died as a result."
He added, "And for a very similar tragedy, where warnings went unheeded to take place at the same exact site, with all the diving that's going on all around the world. I think it's just astonishing. It's really quite surreal." In short, Cameron blames OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush who piloted the Titan sub.
A longtime ocean-diving enthusiast who has made nearly three dozen dives to the Titanic wreckage, Cameron believes that he "spent more time on the [Titanic] than the captain did back in the day." He went on questioning the safety of the submersible.
"As a submersible designer myself, I designed and built us up to go to the deepest place in the ocean, three times deeper than Titanic. So I understand the engineering problems associated with building this type of vehicle and all the safety protocols that you have to go through," he claimed. "And I think [it] is absolutely critical to really get the take-home message from our effort ... [that] deep submergence diving is a mature art. From the early '60s, where there were a few accidents, nobody was killed in the deep submergence until now. [That's] more time than between Kitty Hawk and the flight of the first 747."
Cameron's statement arrives after OceanGate announced on Thursday, June 22 that they believe all five passengers had perished after debris was found near the actual Titanic wreckage. The company stated "a debris field was discovered within the search area by an ROV near the Titanic" and that all five souls aboard are feared dead after a "catastrophic explosion."
In a follow-up statement, OceanGate said, "We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost."
"These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world's oceans," the statement continued. "Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew."
"This is an extremely sad time for out dedicated employees who are exhausted and grieving deeply over this loss," they added. "This is a very sad time for the entire explorer community, and for each of the family members of those lost at sea. We respectfully ask that the privacy of these families be respected during this most painful time."
