111 years ago, tragedy unfolded in the Atlantic Ocean when the Titanic struck an iceberg and sunk mere hours later, and now another disaster has unfolded around that same spot. Earlier this week, a “jerry-rigged” submersible containing five people who were investigating the ship’s wreckage went missing, and today, OceanGate, the company behind this expedition, released a statement saying that these individuals are now believed to be dead. James Cameron, director of the 1997 blockbuster hit Titanic, has since shared his thoughts on this horrific event, drawing a chilling parallel to the original maritime catastrophe.
Along with Cameron making the Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet-starring disaster epic about two young lovers aboard the ill-fated ship, he’s explored the Titanic wreckage multiple times, putting the experiences from many of those trips to good use on the 2003 documentary Ghosts of the Abyss. Taking that into account, plus having once designed his own submersible, and thus being aware of the “engineering problems” and “safety protocols” associated with this type of vehicle, he’s more than qualified to give his take on the unfortunate events surrounding the Titan submersible, which embarked on Sunday. Here’s what he had to say about the tragedy while speaking with ABC News:
