The machine was a source of many concerns within the small world of underwater exploration, recalled the filmmaker.
“It’s surreal”. James Cameron, film director titanic and passionate explorer of the seabed, openly denounced Thursday, June 22 the “ignored warnings” concerning the safety of the tourist submersible which imploded near the wreck of the famous ocean liner, killing five people.
The craft was a source of much concern within the small world of underwater exploration, recalled the filmmaker, who visited the wreck many times to produce his planetary success of 1997, which won 11 Oscars.
A parallel with the sinking of the “Titanic”
The director drew a parallel between this new accident and the sinking of the ocean liner in 1912, which caused the death of 1,500 people. “I am struck by the similarity with the catastrophe of ‘Titanic’where the captain was repeatedly warned of the presence of ice in front of his ship, and yet where he drove at full speed into an ice field on a moonless night”he noticed on the American channel ABC News.
“That a very similar drama, where the warnings were ignored, is happening in the same place, (…) it is simply astounding.”
james cameronon ABC News
The risk of implosion of a submersible is always a concern of “foreground” during its construction, recalled James Cameron, who in 2012 became the first person to dive solo into the ocean depths aboard an underwater vehicle he himself helped design. “It’s the nightmare we’ve all lived with since we entered this field”he insisted, highlighting the impeccable security achieved by most players in the world of underwater exploration.
The company OceanGate singled out
But “many people in the community were very concerned about this submersible” of OceanGate, he recalled. “A number of leading players in the deep submergence engineering community even wrote letters to the company saying what they were doing was too experimental to carry passengers.”
Since the beginning of the research, information implicating OceanGate has been revealed on possible technical negligence of the underwater tourism device. A 2018 complaint says a former company executive, David Lochridge, was fired after raising serious doubts about the safety of the submersible.
James Cameron was also moved by the death of Paul-Henri Nargeolet, the French explorer who was one of the five victims of the accident. The director had known this man nicknamed “Mr. Titanic” for his many dives on the site. “It is almost impossible for me to accept that he died tragically in this way”he regretted.