Hollywood director James Cameron reveals his theory about the sinking of the submersible Titan and criticizes the Coast Guard’s investigation

By Pranav Harish for Daily Mail Australia and Aisling Brennan for NCA Newswire

15:42 09 June 2024, updated 16:24 09 June 2024

James Cameron has stated that he has still not been spoken to as part of the US Coast Guard investigation into the doomed submersible Titan, despite volunteering to be an expert witness a year ago.

Mr Cameron, who directed the 1997 hit Titanic has made 33 dives to the wreck of the famous ship in the North Atlantic, near the site where OceanGate’s titanium ship imploded in June 2023 with five people on board.

Mr Cameron made the comments in a 60 Minutes interview on Sunday, claiming he had been excluded from the ongoing investigation by US Coast Guard officials.

“I volunteered to serve on the Coast Guard Board of Inquiry,” Cameron said.

“They should invite me, but they don’t. Why should you listen to a scientist?” he said.

“I think they want to do things their way and, frankly, I think they have embarrassed themselves in the process and don’t want to hear outside opinions.

“That’s just my interpretation.”

The submersible “Titan” disappeared two hours after beginning its journey to the wreck of the Titanic.

On board were OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, billionaire explorer Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his teenage son Suleman, and legendary Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, who is also a friend of Mr Cameron.

Mr Cameron said the entire OceanGate mission should never have taken place in the first place.

“These guys broke the rules,” Cameron told 60 Minutes on Sunday.

“It’s that simple. They would have been prohibited by law from carrying passengers.”

Despite several investigations, the families of the victims still do not know how the tragedy could have happened.

The disappearance of the submersible triggered a large-scale search operation lasting several days by the US Coast Guard with the support of Canadian authorities.

On June 22, remains of the submarine, including its stern cone, were found about 490 m from the Titanic’s hull. The suspected human remains were recovered a few days later.

Cameron said investigators were not relying on his expertise but were apparently unwilling to consult the knowledge he had gathered during 33 visits to the shipwreck.

The adventurer criticized the official reaction to the submarine’s loss of contact, especially the rumors of a rescue operation, and put forward his theory that an “implosion event” heard by naval ships at the beginning of the multinational operation had already confirmed the deaths of the people on board.

“My jaw literally dropped every day because they never warned everyone,” he said.

“Everyone was running around with their hair on fire, even though we knew exactly where the submarine was.”

“But no one could admit that they didn’t have the opportunity to go down and look.”

“So they ran all over the surface and the whole world waited with bated breath and talked about 96 hours of oxygen.”

“We all knew they were dead.

“We had already raised a glass on Monday evening to toast our fallen comrades.”

Mr Cameron said he did not believe the coastguard had been dishonest in its search efforts, but it had “unnecessarily” withheld information from the families affected.

“I don’t think they lied,” he said.

“I believe they underwent a procedure that was torturous for the family.”

“They just didn’t announce it. They were informed by naval intelligence that an implosion event had been traced to the coordinates of the Titanic wreck.”

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Cameron said he thought charges should be brought, but he believed the person primarily responsible had died in the submarine disaster.

“I think there should be some changes,” he said.

“They had no classification. In theory, they should not have been legally allowed to carry passengers.

“Yes, I think the tragedy is that (Mr. Rush) took others with him.

‘H“We should have listened to the warnings.”

Mr Cameron said he wanted to pay tribute to his late friend, Mr Nargeolet, by returning to the Titanic once again.

“We plan to build a submarine that can penetrate to a depth of 4,000 meters, and that’s what we’re going to do. I might even go back to the Titanic with that submarine, just to prove that it can be made safe if you do it right,” he said.

A coveted seat on the doomed Titanic voyage cost each passenger $250,000.