Director James Cameron mourns the victims of the “Titan” tragedy. The submersible probably imploded in the Atlantic last Sunday. This was reported, among other things, by “CNN”. US media previously reported that debris had been found near the wreck of the Titanic, which lies at a depth of 3,800 meters. The five men on board the “Titan”, who wanted to undertake an expedition to the wreck of the passenger liner that sank in 1912 in the submersible, had no chance of survival.
“Titanic” director Cameron told “ABC News” about “Titan” that many people in the community were “very concerned about this submarine” and that the company had been warned. The filmmaker added that he was “shocked by the resemblance to the ‘Titanic’ disaster itself, where the captain was repeatedly warned of ice ahead of his ship and yet, on a moonless night, he drove at full speed into an ice field, killing many people died.” For all of the dives around the world to have a very similar tragedy, with warnings ignored, in exactly the same spot is “really quite surreal,” Cameron said.
Cameron apparently knew one of the men who died in the “Titan” accident for a long time. Paul-Henri Nargeolet, one of the leading experts on the Titanic wreckage, is a friend of his, Cameron said. “It’s a very small community. I’ve known him for 25 years. The fact that he died so tragically in this way is hard to come to terms with.”
James Cameron has made 33 dives to the Titanic wreck. He not only directed the famous 1997 film about the ship, which sank on its maiden voyage in 1912 after colliding with an iceberg, but also made the documentary Ghosts of the Abyss. Cameron’s Hollywood film about the tragedy, starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, won 11 Oscars and grossed over $2 billion worldwide.
According to James Cameron, shortly after the disappearance of the “Titan” submersible on Sunday, he feared an implosion of the vehicle. The reason is that the “Titan” not only lost its communication, but at the same time could no longer be tracked. “The only scenario I could think of that could explain this was an implosion,” Cameron told CNN on Friday.
However, Cameron stressed that he too had harbored the “unnatural hope” in the past few days that his fears were wrong. “But deep down I knew that wasn’t the case.”
The tragedy must be a lesson for adventurers, Cameron explained. “When you board a vehicle, whether it’s an airplane, a surface vehicle or a submersible, you should make sure that it has been checked by certification bodies,” he emphasized with regard to the recent criticism of the “Titan” operator over possible safety concerns. The worst thing is that the tragedy could have been avoided, he told the British “BBC”.
