James Cameron, director of the movie “Titanic” and an experienced explorer of the depths of the sea, said that many warnings about the safety of the tourist submersible that imploded near the famous ship were ignored, killing five people.
(You may be interested in: Submarine on the Titanic: the lives lost in the tragedy that mourns the world).
Cameron said the small vessel had caused widespread concern in the ocean exploration community.and pointed out the similarities between the tragedy and the sinking in 1912 of the huge ship that left some 1,500 dead.
“I am struck by the similarity between the disaster of the Titanic, whose captain was warned several times about the ice in front of the ship, and yet he sped at full speed towards an ice field on a moonless night, and consequently many people died” Cameron said in an interview with the American ABC News.
“And a very similar tragedy, in which the warnings were ignored, takes place in exactly the same place, With all the diving that’s going on around the world, I think it’s just amazing,” he added.
(Also read: Possible implosion of the submarine that explored the Titanic and other tragedies under the sea).
“It’s really a bit surreal,” he said.
The United States Coast Guard service confirmed Thursday that the small ship, operated by OceanGate Expeditions, suffered “a catastrophic loss chamber pressure” in the depths of the ocean, ending a multinational search and rescue operation that captivated the world.
‘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
Cameron, who in 2012 became the first person to go down to the deepest point in the ocean, in a submarine designed by him, he stressed that the risk of implosion from pressure was always “first and foremost” in the minds of engineers.
“It’s the nightmare we’ve all lived with” in this field of exploration, he said, noting industry security brands over the past decades. But “a lot of people in the community were very concerned about this submersible,” she added.
“Several leading figures in the deep submersion engineering community even wrote letters to the company saying they were being too experimental in loading passengers, and needed to get certified.”
On board the submersible were the British millionaire Hamish Harding, the Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, and his son Suleman -both also with British nationality-, the expert French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, and Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, who charged $250,000 per tourist.
Cameron mentioned his 25-year friendship with Nargeolet. “That he tragically died in this way is almost impossible for me to process.”
The director visited the wreck of the Titanic while directing his epic 1997 film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, and which won 11 Oscars. “I know the wreck very well. In fact, by my calculations I spent more time on the ship than her captain at the time,” he said.
AFP
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