James Cameron, director of the critically acclaimed 1997 movie “Titanic,” spoke out following the Titan submersible tragedy.
In an exclusive interview with ABC News on June 22, Cameron, 68, revealed he has designed submersibles that can go “three times deeper than Titanic” and has visited the historic ship many times and made “33 dives.”
Cameron added he understood “the engineering problems” that come with building the vessel and “all the safety protocols you have to go through.”
The Oscar-winning director referred to deep submergence diving as “a mature art.”
“Many people in the community were very concerned about this sub and a number of the top players” wrote letters to the company saying what they were doing was too experimental to carry passengers, Cameron said.
‘Titanic’ director James Cameron on the ‘catastrophic implosion’ of Titan submersible: “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." pic.twitter.com/vO8JkCXS5f
— ABC News (@ABC) June 22, 2023
He noted the similarities between the Titanic, which sank in 1912, and the submersible’s implosion.
“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 and many people died as a result,” Cameron said.
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 is just astonishing.”
Cameron described the aftermath as “really quite surreal.”
After searchers found debris roughly 1,600 feet (488 meters) from where the Titanic wreckage was located, Rear Adm. John Mauger, of the First Coast Guard District, told reporters on Thursday, it was “consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel,” per MSNBC.
OceanGate Expeditions, the company that hosted the “Titanic Expedition,” released a statement to the Associated Press saying it believed all five people aboard the vessel “have sadly been lost,” including CEO and pilot Stockton Rush.
“These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans,” OceanGate said. “We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew.”