Titanic Director James Cameron Breaks Silence on Submersible Catastrophe

James Cameron is reeling from the Titanic submersible tragedy.

The director, who has made 33 dives to the ship's wreckage since making his 1997 movie Titanic, broke his silence about the OceanGate vessel containing five passengers that officials believe imploded underwater during a recent dive. And he couldn't help but note an uncanny parallel. 

"I'm struck by the similarity of the Titanic disaster itself," Cameron told ABC News on June 22, "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."

Noting the deep-sea exploration community had concerns about the watercraft prior to the catastrophe, the Avatar director continued, "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 it's just astonishing. It's really quite surreal."

The 68-year-old is especially shaken by the presumed death of Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French explorer on the research vessel who Cameron had known for 25 years. 

"It's a very small community," the filmmaker said. "For him to have died tragically in this way is almost impossible for me to process."

The sub—named Titan—went missing on June 18 during a dive to the wreckage of the RMS Titanic, which infamously sank in 1912. In addition to Nargeolet, passengers on the craft included OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, British billionaire Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood.

The U.S. Coast Guard launched a massive search-and-rescue mission for the sub shortly after its disappearance. However, officials confirmed on June 22 that rescuers found debris from an external part of the submersible "consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber."

"This is an incredibly unforgiving environment down there on the sea floor," First Coast Guard District commander Rear Adm. John Mauger said during a press conference. "The debris is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel."

In a statement released earlier in the day, OceanGate said they believe all five passengers "have sadly been lost."

"These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world's oceans," the statement read. "Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew."

E! News has reached out to OceanGate for comment on Cameron's remarks but hasn't heard back.

For more details on the Titan passengers, keep reading.

On June 18, 2023, a deep-sea submersible Titan, operated by the U.S.-based company OceanGate Expeditions and carrying five people on a voyage to the wreck of the Titanic, was declared missing. Following a five-day search, the U.S. Coast Guard announced at a June 22 press conference that the vessel suffered a "catastrophic implosion" that killed all five passengers on board.

Pakistani-born businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood, both British citizens, were also among the victims.

Their family is one of the wealthiest in Pakistan, with Shahzada Dawood serving as the vice chairman of Engro Corporation, per The New York Times. His son was studying at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland.

Shahzada's sister Azmeh Dawood told NBC News that Suleman had expressed reluctance about going on the voyage, informing a relative that he "wasn't very up for it" and felt "terrified" about the trip to explore the wreckage of the Titanic, but ultimately went to please his father, a Titanic fan, for Father's Day.

The Dawood Foundation mourned their deaths in a statement to the website, saying, "It is with profound grief that we announce the passing of Shahzada and Suleman Dawood. Our beloved sons were aboard OceanGagte's Titan submersible that perished underwater. Please continue to keep the departed souls and our family in your prayers during this difficult period of mourning."

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush was the pilot of the Titan. The entrepreneur—who founded the research company in 2009 in Everett, Wash.—had long been interested in exploration. Rush, 61, previously said he dreamed of becoming the first person on Mars and once said that he'd "like to be remembered as an innovator."

In addition to leading voyages to see the remnants of the Titanic, Rush had another surprising connection to the historic 1912 event: His wife Wendy Rush is the great-great-granddaughter of a couple who died on the Titanic, Ida and Isidor Straus.

British billionaire Hamish Harding confirmed he was a part of the mission in a June 17 Instagram post, a day before the submersible went into the water and disappeared.

"I am proud to finally announce that I joined @oceangateexped for their RMS TITANIC Mission as a mission specialist on the sub going down to the Titanic," he wrote. "Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023. A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow."

Harding—the chairman of aircraft company Action Aviation—said the group had started steaming from St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada and was planning to start dive operations around 4 a.m. on June 18. The 58-year-old added, "Until then we have a lot of preparations and briefings to do."

His past explorations included traveling to the deepest part of the ocean in the Mariana Trench, telling Gulf News in 2021, "It was an incredibly hostile environment. To travel to parts of the Challenger Deep where no human had ever been before was truly remarkable."

The Dubai-based businessman also circumnavigated the Earth by plane with the One More Orbit project and, last year, took a trip to space on Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin New Shepard rocket. Harding shared his love for adventure with his son Giles, described as a "teen explorer" on his Instagram.

As for the fifth member, a representative for French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet told the New York Times that he was a passenger on the Titan, with Harding also referencing him on Instagram as a member of the team. 

The Times described him as a maritime expert who was previously part of the French Navy. The 71-year-old was a bonafide Titanic specialist and has traveled to the wreckage 35 times before. Nargeolet served as the director of RMS Titanic, Inc., a company that researches, salvages and displays artifacts from the famed ship, per the outlet. 

Alongside fellow passenger Hamish Harding, he was a member of The Explorers Club, founded in 1904.

As Harding noted in his post, the submersible—named Titan—was a part of an OceanGate Expeditions tour that explores the wreckage of the RMS Titanic, which infamously sank in 1912.

The company expressed its sympathies to the families of the victims. "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. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew."