Director James Cameron Says The Search For Them Missing Sub Was A ‘Nightmarish Charade’

LONDON, England – According to “Titanic” filmmaker James Cameron, the search for a deep-sea tourist sub degenerated into a “nightmarish charade” that prolonged the anguish of the victims’ families.

In an interview aired on Friday, Cameron told the BBC that he “felt in my bones” that the Titan submarine had been lost quickly after learning that it had lost touch with the surface during its descent to the ocean liner’s wreckage at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

He called the media’s focus over the following several days on the submersible’s 96-hour oxygen supply — and reports of pounding noises — a “prolonged and nightmarish charade.”

“That was just a cruel, slow turn of the screw for four days as far as I’m concerned,” he explained. “Because I knew the truth on Monday morning.”

The Titan took off at 8 a.m. on Sunday but was spotted late that afternoon around 435 miles (700 km) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland. On Thursday, the United States Coast Guard announced that debris had been discovered on the ocean floor. When the submersible imploded, all five individuals aboard died, according to authorities.

Cameron, who has done more than 30 dives to the Titanic debris, said he knew an “extreme catastrophic event” had occurred when he heard the submersible had lost navigation and communications during its descent.

According to “Titanic” filmmaker James Cameron, the search for a deep-sea tourist sub degenerated into a “nightmarish charade” that prolonged the anguish of the victims’ families.

“For the sub’s electronics to fail, its communication system to fail, and its tracking transponder to fail simultaneously — sub’s gone,” he told the British channel.

“There was no doubt in my mind. I knew that sub was exactly beneath its last known depth and position, and that’s where they discovered it. There was no hunt. When they eventually had a ROV that could reach the depth, they discovered it within hours. Most likely within minutes.”

Since boyhood, the filmmaker has been interested in oceanography and has participated in deep-sea dives, including one to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean.

Cameron stated, “one of the saddest aspects of this is how preventable it really was.”

“We now have another wreck that is based on, unfortunately, the same principles of not heeding warnings,” he explained.

Deep-sea researchers have reservations about OceanGate Expeditions’ Titan submarine, claiming it is too experimental to transport humans.

Guillermo Söhnlein, the co-founder of OceanGate, told Times Radio that CEO Stockton Rush, who was onboard the Titan, was “extremely committed to safety.”

“He was also extremely diligent about risk management and was very keenly aware of the dangers of operating in a deep ocean environment,” said Söhnlein, no longer employed with OceanGate.

SOURCE – (AP)