“Titanic” director James Cameron is speaking out after the search for the missing OceanGate Titan submersible came to a devastating end Thursday.
Cameron, 68, found the tragic story of the sub eerily similar to what happened to the doomed ship Titanic in 1912.
“Well, I’ve been down there many times,” Cameron told ABC News on Thursday. “I’ve made 33 dives and I’ve actually calculated that I’ve spent more time on the ship than the captain did back in the day.”
MISSING TITANIC SUBMARINE FOUND, CREW KILLED IN DEEP-SEA CATASTROPHE, COAST GUARD SAYS
James Cameron was “struck by the similarity” of the tragedy of the OceanGate Titan to the Titanic disaster. (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for Disney)
Cameron noted that he is a submersible designer himself and even created a sub that was capable of traveling to the deepest parts of the ocean, which is three times deeper than the location of the Titanic, according to the director.
He dove to the Mariana Trench in a 24-foot submersible called the Deepsea Challenger in March 2012.
Cameron noted that “many people in the community were very concerned about this sub.” He said “a number of the top players” in the community “even wrote letters to the company saying that what they were doing was too experimental to carry passengers.”
James Cameron has visited the Titanic ruins 33 times. (Getty Images)
“I’m struck by the similarity of the Titanic disaster itself, where the captain was repeatedly warned about ice ahead of his ship and yet he steamed at full speed into an ice field on a moonless night and many people died as a result,” Cameron told the outlet.
“And for a very similar tragedy, where warnings went unheeded, to take place at the same exact site, with all the diving that’s going on all around the world, I think is just astonishing. It’s really quite surreal,” he concluded.
The U.S. Coast Guard confirmed Thursday that a debris field is the missing Titanic tourist submersible that was carrying five passengers. All five on board are presumed dead.
Inset, from left: Suleman Dawood, Shahzada Dawood, Stockton Rush; Paul-Henry Nargeolet and Hamish Harding were aboard the OceanGate Titan submersible. (Engro Corp. | Reuters/Shannon Stapleton | @OceanGateExped/Twitter | Felix Kunze/Blue Origin via AP | Ocean Gate/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Inside the vessel were OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush; British businessman turned adventurer Hamish Harding; father-and-son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, who are members of one of Pakistan’s wealthiest families; and Paul-Henry Nargeolet, a former French navy officer and leading Titanic expert.
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“These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans,” OceanGate said in a statement. “Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time.”
The 1997 movie “Titanic,” written and directed by James Cameron, starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. (Getty Images)
Cameron released the National Geographic documentary, “Titanic: 25 Years Later,” in February. The documentary addressed the controversial theory that Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, Jack, could have survived by climbing onto Rose’s (Kate Winslet) door in the middle of the freezing waters.
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Cameron’s “Titanic” grossed $600.78 million during its initial run in the late ‘90s.
After the success of “Titanic,” Cameron continued to work on several other iconic movies, including “Avatar.” His previous works include “The Terminator” and “Aliens.”
Fox News Digital’s Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.
