Titanic director, James Cameron, has weighed in on the Titan sub tragedy again as he accused OceanGate of "cutting corners" after its vessel imploded in tragic events last year.
The disaster sent shockwaves around the world when it was revealed the sub's captain Stockton Rush and four tourists had been killed after Titan's hull imploded about 3,500m underwater as it descended to the wreckage of the Titanic, about 560km off the coast of Newfoundland.
Cameron, 69, who has completed 33 submersible dives to the Titanic wreck, said he believes the tragedy was "entirely preventable" and destroyed the trust of the public as he addressed an audience at Fremantle's Maritime Museum in Perth on Sunday.
Titanic director, James Cameron, has weighed in on the Titan sub tragedy again (Getty Images for US-Ireland Alli)When asked about the sub, which cost $250,000 (£197,000) to board for a deep-sea trip to see the Titanic, Cameron said the disaster had put a stain on the work of the submersible community, which he claims had a "spotless safety record" before the incident. He said: “When you go down in a sub, you shouldn’t have to worry about imploding."
Launching the exhibition showcasing his record-breaking 2012 solo-dive to Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench - the deepest part of the ocean, he added that the possibility of an implosion is: "The first and foremost principle that you engineer against." Cameron continued: "And one of the tragedies, I think, is that people now think submersible diving is much more dangerous than it really is," The West Australian reported.
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The sub was on descent to the wreckage of the Titanic, about 3,800m underwater, when it lost contact at about 3,500m. It imploded in a matter of milliseconds, instantly killing British billionaire Hamish Harding, OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet and UK-based businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Sulaiman. The deaths broke a 63-year streak without a fatality in the industry.
Following the tragedy last year, Cameron told the BBC that OceanGate, the parent company of the Titan sub, "didn't get certified because they knew they wouldn't pass". He said: "I was very suspect of the technology that they were using. I wouldn't have gotten in that sub."
After his comments, the co-founder of OceanGate defended the criticism. Guillermo Söhnlein, who launched OceanGate in 2009 with CEO Rush, said the vessel went through a “rigorous test program.” "I think one of the issues that keeps coming up is everyone keeps equating certification with safety and are ignoring the 14 years of development of the Titan sub," he told Radio 4's Today show.
Titan's hull imploded about 3,500m underwater (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)He continued: "Any expert who weighs in on this, including Mr Cameron, will also admit that they were not there for the design of the sub, for the engineering of the sub, for the building of the sub and certainly not for the rigorous test program the sub went through."
Following the tragedy, Cameron suggested there was a "terrible irony" in the loss of Titan and its crew, likening it to the loss of the Titanic itself back in 1912. He said: "We now have another wreck that is based on unfortunately the same principles of not heeding warnings. OceanGate were warned."
On June 21 last year, it was announced that Oceangate's Everett office was closed indefinitely, and on July 6, OceanGate suspended all operations. A one-sentence statement placed at the top of the company’s website stated that it has “suspended all exploration and commercial operations.” The site provided no further details about the length of the suspension or whether the move was permanent.
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