James Cameron Confesses He Knew OceanGate Implosion 24 Hours After Disappearance
OceanGate's missing Titanic submersible, the Titan, imploded, killing all five people aboard. Now, Oscar-winning director and Titanic expert James Cameron is slamming the company.
Cameron, who led expeditions into the Titanic, designed his own submersibles, and directed the Oscar-winning film that starred Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, admitted that he received the information within 24 hours of the disappearance of the Titan, according to The Independent.
"We got confirmation within an hour that there had been a loud bang at the same time that the sub comms were lost," the "Avatar" director said. "A loud bang on the hydrophone. Loss of transponder. Loss of comms. I knew what happened. The sub imploded."
The OceanGate implosion was heard shortly after contact was lost with the submersible. However, it only came to light after several days of searching. It launched on that tragic mission last Sunday and had four days' worth of oxygen.
The passengers included British billionaire and explorer Hamish Harding, French Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood. The Titan was piloted by OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush.
James Cameron Offers His Theory What Went Wrong With Missing Titanic Submersible
James Cameron also spoke with the BBC and theorized that OceanGate "cut corners" with the sub's construction, leading to the deaths of five people aboard. "I was very suspect of the technology that they were using. I wouldn't have gotten in that sub," the "Terminator 2" director said.
Cameron, who added has completed 33 submersible dives to the world-famous shipwreck, added that the company "didn't get certified because they knew they wouldn't pass."
READ MORE: Missing Titanic Submarine Claimed To Have Been Found, But It's Fake News
During the BBC interview, Cameron also stated that when he learned the Titan lost both its navigation and communication at the same time, he says he thinks the sub was doomed. "I felt in my bones what had happened. For the sub's electronics to fail and its communication system to fail, and its tracking transponder to fail simultaneously - sub's gone," he said.
The Oscar-winning director then stated that when he heard Titan went missing, "I immediately got on the phone to some of my contacts in the deep submersible community." This was when he learned of the facts about the sub's disappearance.
"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," he told the BBC.
OceanGate Co-Founder Hits Back at James Cameron After Criticism
After Cameron accused OceanGate of cutting corners and ignoring safety warnings, OceanGate co-founder Guillermo Soehnlein, who started the company with Rush back in 2009, defended his late friend's decisions.
"He was extremely committed to safety," he said, according to CNA. "He was also extremely diligent about managing risks, and was very keenly aware of the dangers of operating in a deep ocean environment."
Soehnlein stressed that OceanGate's design was not experimental and hit back at Cameron saying, "I think he was asked about a similar risk and he said, 'Look, if something happens at that depth, it will be catastrophic in a matter of microseconds'."
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This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Rick Martin
WATCH: 'Titanic' filmmaker James Cameron calls out 'three potential failure points' on Titan submersible - ABC NEWS
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