James Cameron explains his theories behind OceanGate submersible tragedy

Leading Titanic expert and filmmaker James Cameron reveals his thoughts on how the OceanGate submersible was doomed from the start.

Titanic expert and filmmaker James Cameron says the owners of the doomed OceanGate submersible “broke all the rules”, resulting in the deaths of the five on board trying to find the world’s most famous shipwreck.

The Titan submersible vanished two hours into its journey en route to the wreck of the Titanic on June 18 in the North Atlantic Ocean. Despite several investigations, the families still do not know how the tragedy happened.

Cameron, who directed the 1997 blockbuster Titanic, said the entire OceanGate mission should never have occurred in the first place.

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

“It’s that simple. They should not have been legally allowed to carry passengers.”

Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate, had promised those on board they’d find the Titanic wreck. Picture: OceanGate

Its disappearance sparked a massive, multi-day search effort by the US Coast Guard with the assistance of Canadian authorities.

All five on-board – OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet as guide, and three paying passengers: billionaire explorer Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his teenage son Suleman – were instantly killed in the suspected implosion.

Remnants of the sub, including its tail cone, were found about 490m from the hull of the Titanic on June 22, with the presumed human remains recovered days later.

James Cameron says the entire mission was doomed to fail. Picture: 60 Minutes

The Titanic-bound tourist submarine disappeared only had 96 hours of life support installed. Picture: Supplied

But as the first anniversary approaches, Mr Cameron said there was still a lot of mystery surrounding the investigation into what happened on that fateful day.

Mr Cameron, who has visited the Titanic wreck site 33 times and designed and piloted a submarine to the deepest-known point on Earth, said despite offering his expertise to the investigation, he remains out of the loop.

“I’ve volunteered to the investigative committee at the Coast Guard,” he said.

“I think they want to do things their way and frankly I think they’ve kind of got egg on their face and they don’t want outside opinions.

“That’s just my interpretation.”

OceanGate Expeditions was carrying five people on-board when it imploded. Picture: Supplied.

Mr Cameron said the “media circus” in the days during the search for the five men was fuelled by the unwarranted hope that they were looking for survivors.

“I mean my jaw literally dropped open farther and farther each day that they never cautioned everybody,” he said.

“Everybody running around with their hair on fire when we knew right where the sub was.

“But nobody could admit that they didn’t have the means to go down and look.

“So they were running all over the surface and the entire world waiting with bated breath talking about 96 hours of oxygen.

“We all knew they were dead.

“We’d already hoisted a glass, you know, a toast to our fallen comrades on Monday night.”

Mr Cameron said he doesn’t believe the Coast Guard was dishonest about their search efforts but they were “unnecessarily” withholding information to the families involved.

“I don’t think they lied,” he said.

“I think they went by a procedure that was torturous for the family.

“They just didn’t disclose. They were informed by naval intelligence that an implosion event was tracked to the co-ordinate of the Titanic wreck site.”

Chief Executive and founder of OceanGate Inc Stockton Rush was killed in the incident. Picture: OceanGate

Mr Cameron said he believed charges should be laid but he thinks the main person responsible died in the submersible disaster.

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

“They didn’t have classification. Theoretically, they should not have been legally allowed to carry passengers.

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

“He should have listened to the warnings.”

Mr Cameron said he plans to honour his late friend, Mr Nargeolet, by returning to the Titanic one more time.

“We have plans to build a sub that can go to 4000m, and we will, and I may even go back to Titanic in that sub, just to prove the point that if it’s done right, it can be done safely,” he said.

A coveted spot on the doomed Titanic trip cost the passengers $US250,000 each.

Originally published as James Cameron explains his theories behind OceanGate submersible tragedy