A few minutes after the discovery of parts of the submersible’s hull was known and, therefore, the death of the five missing persons, Cameron, an expert in this type of exploration, with 33 descents to the Titanic, has assured that this accident is something never seen among those who engage in this type of travel. “We have never seen an accident like this. There have never been casualties at these depths and there have never been implosions”he told the BBC.
The implosion must have been “extremely violent, like a detonation of ten sticks of dynamite,” he said.
The search, a “farce” because there was no hope
He assures that as soon as he learned of the disappearance of the Titan, he contacted all the people he knows in the world of underwater exploration and that came to the conclusion that there was no hope: the submersible had lost both communications and the ability to navigate, that is, it was probably an electrical failure.
“You can’t lose communications and navigation at the same time without a catastrophic incident occurring. The first thing that came to my mind was an implosion.”, assures. From the data he handles, he believes that the explosion occurred at a depth of about 3,500 meters. All the information about the noises and the hopes that public opinion has received these days has seemed “a nightmare farce”.
“I knew the submersible was just below its last known position. That’s where they found it,” he says. In fact, the remains were found a few hours, “perhaps minutes”, after the arrival in the area of the first unmanned underwater vehicles capable of tracking the oceanic abyss and sending images.
The “terrible irony” of the Titan and Titanic stories
Cameron also sees a “terrible irony” in the relationship between the Titan and Titanic tragedies. “Now we have another wreck (whose history) unfortunately it is based on the same principles of not having heeded the notices. OceanGate was warned”, he asserts and affirms that within the world of underwater exploration several people had sent letters to the company that owns the Titan to tell them “You are heading for a catastrophe”.
In another interview in ABC News was even more graphic in his comparison: “I am impressed by the similarity with the Titanic, where eThe captain received repeated warnings about the ice ahead and still accelerated at full throttle in an ice field, on a dark night with a new moon and many people died from it.”
Cameron also designed his own submersible, but criticizes the tourist use
The film director is an authoritative voice in this matter. In 2012 he designed and piloted a submersible. As with the Titan, did not approve it to carry out its explorations. He justifies that this is usual when it comes to experimental exploration for scientific purposes, but “I would never have designed a vehicle to carry passengers without having certified it. You can’t take that stance when you’re putting clients in a submersible. You have innocent guests who trust you.”
Specifically, Cameron says that carbon fiber, the material from which most of the Titan’s hull was made, does not have enough resistance to the compression to which it is subjected in the ocean abyss. He explains that it is intended for space exploration, not ocean exploration.
