Headline

Submersible: Titanic Film Director James Cameron Accuses OceanGate Of ‘Cutting Corners’

Published

2 years ago

June 23, 2023

Hollywood film director James Cameron, who directed the 1997 movie Titanic said the team, who built the submersible, which imploded with the loss of five lives had “cut corners.”

Cameron, in an interview with the BBC, said OceanGate, the parent company of the Titan sub, “didn’t get certified because they knew they wouldn’t pass.”

“I was very suspect of the technology that they were using. I wouldn’t have gotten in that sub,” he said.

Cameron has completed 33 submersible dives to the Titanic wreck.

Titan was built from carbon fibre and titanium.

In 2012 Cameron used a different technology for the Deepsea Challenger submersible expedition in the Pacific, which took him down to 10,912m (35,800ft), the deepest known oceanic trench.

The Titanic wreck is 3,810m (12,500ft) down.

Cameron said that when he learned the sub had lost both its navigation and communication at the same time he immediately suspected a disaster.

“I felt in my bones what had happened. For the sub’s electronics to fail and its communication system to fail, and its tracking transponder to fail simultaneously – sub’s gone.”

He said that on Monday, when he heard the sub had gone missing, “I immediately got on the phone to some of my contacts in the deep submersible community.

“Within about an hour I had the following facts. They were on descent. They were at 3,500 metres (11,483ft), heading for the bottom at 3,800 metres.

“Their comms were lost, and navigation was lost – and I said instantly, you can’t lose comms and navigation together without an extreme catastrophic event or high, highly energetic catastrophic event. And the first thing that popped to mind was an implosion.”

On Thursday, an official from the US Navy told the BBC’s partner CBS News that the navy had detected “an acoustic anomaly consistent with an implosion” shortly after the Titan lost contact with the surface.

The official said the information had been relayed to the US Coast Guard team, which used it to narrow the radius of the search area.

Cameron suggested that 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.

“We now have another wreck that is based on unfortunately the same principles of not heeding warnings,” he said. “OceanGate were warned.

Cameron said that some within the deep submergence community, not including himself directly, had written a letter to OceanGate saying they believed, in his words, “you are going on a path to catastrophe.”

A letter sent to OceanGate by the Marine Technology Society (MTS) in March 2018 and obtained by the New York Times stated “the current ‘experimental’ approach adopted by OceanGate… could result in negative outcomes (from minor to catastrophic).”

Separately, US court documents show a former employee of OceanGate warned of potential safety problems with the vessel as far back as 2018.

The documents show that David Lochridge, the company’s director of marine operations, raised concerns in an inspection report.

But the co-founder of OceanGate insisted however that Titan had undergone rigorous testing.

Guillermo Sohnlein, who left the company 10 years ago, told the BBC that the 14-year development programme had been “very robust”.

“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, the building of the sub and certainly not for the rigorous test programme that the sub went through.”

The Titan sub was not certified, but then this is not mandatory.

In a blog post about it in 2019, the company said the way that Titan had been designed fell outside the accepted system – but it “does not mean that OceanGate does not meet standards where they apply.”

It added that the classification agencies “slowed down innovation… bringing an outside entity up to speed on every innovation before it is put into real-world testing is anathema to rapid innovation.”

Cameron told BBC News the past week had “felt like a prolonged and nightmarish charade where people are running around talking about banging noises and talking about oxygen and all this other stuff.”

“I knew that sub was sitting exactly underneath its last known depth and position. That’s exactly where they found it,” he said.

He said anyone venturing to the Titanic wreck should be fully aware of the risks, as “it’s a very dangerous site.”

“Agree to those risks, but don’t be in a situation where you haven’t been told about the risks of the actual platform that you’re diving in there.

“In the 21st Century, there shouldn’t be any risks. We’ve managed to make it through 60 years, from 1960 until today, 63 years without a fatality… So, you know, one of the saddest aspects of this is how preventable it really was.”
VANGUARD

Headline

Former NBA Player Ben McLemore Convicted Of Raping Incapacitated Woman

Published

9 hours ago

July 4, 2025

Editor

An Oregon jury found former Houston Rockets guard Ben McLemore guilty on Thursday of raping a woman in while playing for the Portland Trail Blazers in 2021.

Deliberations lasting around 10 hours after an 11-day trial concluded with the jury in Clackamas County finding McLemore, 32, guilty on one charge of first-degree rape, one charge of first-degree unlawful sexual penetration and one count of second-degree sexual abuse. He was found not guilty on an additional count of second-degree sexual abuse.

McLemore pleaded not guilty to all four counts before the verdict. His sentencing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, July 9.

The charges stem from a report of sexual assault in Lake Oswego, Oregon, on Oct. 3, 2021. McLemore was identified as a suspect during a police investigation.

A Clackamas County grand jury heard evidence in the case in February 2024, which included testimony from the woman who said McLemore assaulted her. He was indicted and an arrest warrant was issued, according to Lake Oswego police. McLemore was arrested by U.S. Marshalls two months later.

Clackamas County prosecutor Scott Healy reportedly told jurors the victim found herself being sexually assaulted by McLemore while partially conscious the morning after a party.

Healy said that the victim had been drinking heavily at the party and had passed out on a living room couch at the party around 2 a.m.

McLemore’s attorneys reportedly disputed the victim’s account, claiming she had initiated sexual contact with McLemore and had consented to it. They also claimed that despite the victim and McLemore both being intoxicated, the victim was sober enough to consent.

McLemore played parts of two seasons with the Rockets from 2019-2021. He was the seventh pick in the 2013 draft out of Kansas and played for five teams across nine NBA seasons. After playing the 2021-2022 season with the Trail Blazers, McLemore went overseas to continue his playing career. He has played for teams in China, Greece, Spain and Turkey over the last three years.

Headline

Russia Launches Largest Assault On Ukraine

Published

9 hours ago

July 4, 2025

Editor

The Kremlin said on Friday that it sees no immediate diplomatic way out of the war in Ukraine, hours after launching its largest ever drone and missile barrage of the invasion.

The hours-long bombardments across Ukraine came just after a telephone call between the US and Russian presidents ended without any breakthrough.

AFP journalists in Kyiv heard drones buzzing over the capital and explosions ringing out throughout the night as Ukrainian air defence systems fended off the attack.

“We are interested in achieving our goals in the course of the special military operation and it is preferable to do it by political and diplomatic means,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, referring to its invasion, launched in February 2022.

“But as long as that is not possible, we are continuing the special operation,” he said in a briefing, including with AFP.

US President Donald Trump had said he made no progress in discussions one day earlier with President Vladimir Putin on ending the war, while the Kremlin vowed to pursue its war aims.

A senior Ukrainian official told AFP that Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky were planning to speak later on Friday.

Tymur, a Kyiv resident who said he had experienced previous Russian attacks, told AFP that the assault in the early hours of Friday was different.

“Nothing like this attack had ever happened before. There have never been so many explosions,” he said.

– ‘War and terror’ –
Zelensky said air alerts had begun echoing out across the country as the Trump-Putin call was getting underway.

“Yet again, Russia is showing it has no intention of ending the war and terror,” Zelensky said on social media.

“All of this is clear evidence that without truly large-scale pressure, Russia will not change its dumb, destructive behaviour.”

He urged the United States in particular to increase pressure on Moscow, which on Friday announced fresh territorial gains on the front line with the capture of a village in the Donetsk region.

Poland said its embassy building in Kyiv had been damaged in the attack but that staff were unharmed.

Germany’s foreign ministry meanwhile said that the timing of the attack — just after the leaders’ call — showed that Moscow “continues to rely on brute force”.

“Ukraine needs more to defend itself, not less,” the ministry said on social media.

A government spokesman said Germany was exploring the possibility of purchasing more Patriot air defence systems from the United States for Ukraine.

Zelensky said 23 people were wounded in the barrage, which the air force said comprised 539 drones and 11 missiles.

A representative of Ukraine’s air force told Ukrainian media that the attack was the largest of the Russian invasion, launched in February 2022.

– ‘Complete disregard’ –

Overnight Russia attacks have escalated over recent weeks.

An AFP tally found Moscow launched a record number of drones and missiles at Ukraine in June when direct peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow appeared to stall.

In Kyiv, AFP journalists saw dozens of residents of the capital taking shelter in a metro station.

Yuliia Golovnina, who said she shelters at the metro regularly, described to AFP the worry that comes with hearing an explosion during an attack.

“Will there be another one? Will something collapse on you?” the 47-year-old said.

“So in those seconds, you just hold your breath and wait to see what happens next,” she added.

In Kyiv, concerns mount over whether the US will continue delivering military aid, which is key to Ukraine’s ability to fend off the drone and missile barrages.

The US announced this week it was reducing some of its aid deliveries.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said this was a clear signal that the 27-nation European Union needed to “step up”.

Ukraine has also ramped up its retaliatory strikes in Russia, where a woman was killed when a Ukrainian drone crashed into an apartment building, the acting regional governor in Rostov said.

Talks, spearheaded by the United States to secure a ceasefire, have stalled but Ukraine and Russia announced a fresh swap of prisoners of war with Ukraine.

The two sides said it was part of agreements reached during talks in Istanbul last month.

AFP

Headline

We’re Ready To Start Gaza Ceasefire Talks ‘Immediately’ – Hamas

Published

9 hours ago

July 4, 2025

Editor

Hamas said Friday it was ready to start talks “immediately” on a proposal for a ceasefire with Israel in Gaza, after holding consultations with other Palestinian factions.

“The movement is ready to engage immediately and seriously in a cycle of negotiations on the mechanism to put in place” the terms of a draft truce proposal received from mediators, the militant group said in a statement.