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James Cameron considers Titanic shipwreck 'sacred ground' as search for missing submersible continues

'Titanic' director James Cameron has visited the historic shipwreck site more than 30 times and called it an ode to 'human hubris'

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Director James Cameron transformed one of the most infamous disasters of all time into a blockbuster film. His 1997 film 'Titanic' depicts the maiden voyage of the doomd luxury ocean liner RMS Titanic. In April 1912, the ship sank in the North Atlantic after colliding with an iceberg. Although not publicly commenting on the ongoing hunt for the OceanGate submersible carrying five passengers on the Titanic tour, Cameron has personally undertaken 33 dives to the Titanic wreckage site, as per CNN.

The titanium-made submersible, which weighs almost the same as six mid-sized cars, was launched around 4 am on Sunday, June 18, but lost communication with the sub's mothership MV Polar Prince, an hour and 45 minutes into the two-hour descent. The five-member crew on board the Titan includes British billionaire Hamish Harding, French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, Pakistan millionaire Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman. Now, it is estimated that the five missing passengers have just 24 hours of oxygen supply left inside the vessel.

Cameron made at least 33 trips to the shipwreck site!

When asked what motivated him to make his blockbuster 1997 movie, Cameron admitted to Playboy in 2009 that it wasn't a love tale on the ill-fated 'Titanic.' He had long been intrigued by the 1,500 fatality Titanic disaster. "I made ‘Titanic’ because I wanted to dive to the shipwreck, not because I particularly wanted to make the movie," he told the magazine at the time. Since then, the director has visited the ship's wreckage site at least 33 times. During a 2018 interview with '60 Minutes Australia', he claimed that he had "actually spent more time on the Titanic wreck than the captain spent on the ship."

'It's sacred ground'

The 'Avatar' director is by no means the only one who has gone to tremendous efforts to examine the iconic ship. The wreckage is located around 12,500 feet beneath the surface of the water. Only divers using advanced submersibles can reach there. OceanGate Expeditions has promoted $250,000 per person excursions taking tourists to the Titanic's wreckage site. One of the company's subs disappeared on Sunday, June 18, while en route to the wreckage.

Cameron has not yet made any public remarks regarding the missing submersible. He has, however, discussed the ongoing fascination with the tragedy and the crash site in previous interviews. In an interview with '60 Minutes', he said, "I think there’s a feeling that it’s sacred ground. That it’s a monument that means a great deal to people symbolically about the price of human hubris and arrogance."

What happened to OceanGate's Titan submersible?

The OceanGate Expeditions-owned Titan sub and the research vessel Polar Prince departed on their expedition to the Titanic's undersea cemetery on Sunday morning. The expedition started off on their 400 nautical-mile trek into the Atlantic Ocean, around 900 miles off the Massachusetts coast of Cape Cod. After being separated from its mother ship, the submersible started its 13,000-foot plunge to the wreck site. The ship was scheduled to send a signal back to the Polar Prince every 15 minutes, but after an hour and 45 minutes, it lost contact.

Although the exact location of the sub's disappearance is unknown, the Coast Guard said that it was searching 900 miles to the east of Cape Cod, near the infamous Titanic shipwreck. Several agencies, nations, and both public and private organizations are frantically collaborating to find and save the five people missing on board the Titan. This is the world's deepest underwater search and rescue mission because it is unlike anything that has ever been done before.