A little less than a year after the tragic implosion of the Titan – which left five dead, including Frenchman Paul-Henri Nargeolet, on June 18, 2023 – James Cameron criticized the search operations and the investigation still in progress.
“Why listen to a scientist?” In an interview with Australian media 60 Minutes, James Cameron expressed his bitterness towards the investigators responsible for investigating the implosion of the Titan submersible. The director, who has already explored the wreck of the Titanic 33 times and also designed and piloted a submarine to the deepest known point on Earth, 11,000 meters in the Mariana Trench, had volunteered to be an “expert witness,” but was never contacted.
“I think they want to do things their way,” James Cameron said. “Frankly, I think they’ve lost a little face and don’t want outside opinions. That’s just my interpretation. But they should invite me and they don’t. After all, why listen to a scientist? », he blurted, visibly bitter.
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The director of Titanic also recalled that in his opinion, the OceanGate mission in its entirety “should never have happened”. “These guys broke the rules. It’s simple: they should not have been legally allowed to transport passengers,” he reiterated. “I think the tragedy is that Stockton Rush took other people with him. He should have listened to the warnings. »
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Five days of searching… without any hope?
The famous explorer above all ensures that from the evening of Monday June 19, 2023, i.e. the day after the disappearance of the Titan, specialists were aware of the tragic fate reserved for the passengers of the submersible. However, the announcement of their death only came on Thursday June 22. “We all knew they were dead. We had already toasted our fallen comrades on Monday evening,” he alleged, making a mockery of the multinational search efforts that took place for days.
They said they heard something banging against a hull over the noise of 11 ships operating in the immediate vicinity… It’s like hearing a sparrow farting over the cacophony of an airport.
James Cameron
“This story has turned into something crazy. Everyone was running around even though we knew exactly where the submarine was and [ses passagers] were dead. Just because no one could admit that they couldn’t afford to go down and see. So they were running all over the surface and the whole world [attendait] holding his breath,” he recalls.
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“In the area of search and rescue, in the absence of definitive information, we have both a moral and statutory responsibility to continue the search,” replied Captain Jamie Frederick, head of the US Coast Guard, from the Australian media. “If you don’t have hope while you’re running a search and rescue business, you’re in the wrong business. »
