Director James Cameron slammed the days-long search-and-rescue mission for the missing submersible as a “nightmarish charade,” telling BBC News he knew it was a lost cause.
Cameron, who has completed 33 submersible dives to the Titanic wreckage, said Friday that when he learned OceanGate’s Titan had gone missing, he “felt in [his] bones what had happened” to the vessel.
“Their comms were lost, and navigation was lost — and I said instantly, you can’t lose comms and navigation together without an extreme catastrophic event or high, highly energetic catastrophic event. And the first thing that popped to mind was an implosion,” Cameron stated.
Titanic director James Cameron: ‘I felt in my bones what happened’ to sub https://t.co/uszMFAxvYg
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) June 22, 2023
Despite what appeared to Cameron as an obvious explanation for the submersible’s disappearance, a multi-day search and rescue effort involving multiple countries and experts from all across the globe ensued. When reports emerged that the Canadian military had picked up banging noises amid media coverage of the dwindling amount of the submersible’s oxygen reserves, Cameron argued it was merely a “nightmarish charade” that prolonged the pain of loved ones left behind. (RELATED: US Navy Heard Titan Submersible Implode Days Ago: REPORT)
“That was just a cruel, slow turn of the screw for four days as far as I’m concerned,” Cameron stated, according to Fortune. “Because I knew the truth on Monday morning.”
Cameron’s insight proved correct when authorities did locate the remains of the Titan submersible Thursday, although they have not recovered the five passengers’ bodies.
“For me, there was no doubt. I knew that sub was sitting exactly underneath its last known depth and position, and that’s exactly where they found it. There was no search. When they finally got an ROV down there that could make the depth, they found it within hours. Probably within minutes,” Cameron stated, according to Fortune.
Cameron observed the irony that the submersible was found a mere 1,600 feet from the famed wreckage it had set out to explore.”We now have another wreck that is based on unfortunately the same principles of not heeding warnings,” Cameron told BBC News. “OceanGate were warned.”