‘Titanic’ director James Cameron calls tragedies in the exact same place ‘surreal’: the striking similarity between Titanic and Titan disasters

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With ‘Titanic’, Canadian film director James Cameron (68) made one of the most successful films in history in 1997. Cameron himself dived to the wreck of the passenger ship that sank in the North Atlantic in 1912. “I’ve been there many times, I know the place very well,” says the Canadian in an interview about the Titan accident.

Cameron describes the implosion of the submarine that suddenly disappeared during a dive to the Titanic on Sunday as “pretty surreal”. The parallels between the two disasters, which are 111 years apart, are “amazing”. Then, as now, those responsible would have ignored urgent security warnings.

All five occupants of the 6.5-meter deep-sea titanium pod died in the accident. According to the US Coast Guard, the discovered debris indicates a catastrophic sudden overpressure that suddenly shattered the pressure chamber. An extremely violent event. The bodies of the missing will probably never be found.

Unheard of warnings

The French deep-sea explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet (77) on board, who had completed more than three dozen dives on the Titanic, was a friend of Cameron’s. Cameron calls the French “legendary”. I can hardly bear that his friend “had to die in this tragic way for 25 years,” the film director told ABC News.

What Cameron also can’t get out of his head are parallels between the Titan disaster and the sinking of the Titanic, which hit an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage in April 1912. “I am struck by the similarity of the disaster to the Titanic itself, with the captain repeatedly warned of ice ahead of his ship and yet heading full speed for an ice field.”

Cameron developed deep-sea capsules himself. It dived into the oceans three times deeper than the Titanic. He understands the technical challenges and all the safety measures. Ironically, the submarine Titan had no safety certificates.

Tragedy in the exact same place

Many diving industry professionals are also concerned about this deep-sea vessel, Cameron said. It is a “mature” industry with responsible players developing new boats using computer models and extensive testing over many years. Engineers wrote letters to OceanGate Expeditions, Titan’s operator, that what the company is doing is too experimental.

The Titanic’s captain had also been repeatedly warned of icebergs in the area. Nevertheless, he stuck to the “full ride on a moonless night” through the Danger Zone. More than 1500 people had to die.

Cameron speaks of “very similar tragedies where warnings were ignored. It’s amazing, quite surreal, that they happened in exactly the same place.” (kes)

Source: Blick