All five passengers aboard the submersible were presumed dead on Thursday.
James Cameron is speaking out following the tragic news regarding the 21-foot submersible, Titan, that was carrying five men on a dive to explore the wreckage site of the Titanic.
On Thursday, Rear Admiral John Mauger, the commander of the U.S. Coast Guard, announced that all aboard are presumed "dead" following a "catastrophic implosion."
Cameron, who directed Titanic -- based on the 1912 accident that sunk the cruise liner -- and has taken 33 trips to the scene of the wreckage himself, spoke about the submersible's final voyage.
"A number of the top players in the deep submergence engineering community even wrote letters to the company, saying that what they were doing was too experimental to carry passengers and that it needed to be certified," Cameron told ABC News during an interview about the precautions that came ahead of the mission.
The Canadian filmmaker shared that he saw similarities between the fate of the submersible and the doomed ocean liner.
"I’m struck by the similarity of the Titanic disaster itself, where the captain was repeatedly warned about ice ahead of his ship, and yet he steamed at full speed into an ice field on a moonless night and many people died as a result," he said. "For us, it’s a very similar tragedy where warnings went unheeded. To take place at the same exact site with all the diving that’s going on all around the world, I think it’s just astonishing. It’s really quite surreal."
Cameron also took the time to mourn the loss of his friend of 25years, French explorer Paul-Henri “PH” Nargeolet.
"PH, the French legendary submersible dive pilot was a friend of mine,” Cameron shared. "You know, it’s a very small community. I’ve known PH for 25 years, and for him to have died tragically in this way is almost impossible for me to process."
On Sunday, Oceangate Expeditions CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Nargeolet, embarked on what was supposed to be a 10-hour journey in the 21-foot submersible that would take them to the site of the Titanic.
One hour and 45 minutes into the journey, the ship lost contact, leading North American and Canadian agencies to work together on a search and rescue mission. Sadly, on Thursday, Rear Admiral Mauger, the commander of the U.S. Coast Guard leading the search, announced that an ROV -- or a remote operated vehicle -- found "five major pieces of debris" that is consistent with the "catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber." He added that the vessel was found 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic. The nose cone was among the five major pieces of debris found.
"The debris is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel so we'll continue to work and continue to search the area down there, but I don't have an answer for prospects at this time," Mauger said.
Mauger said that, upon this determination, the Coast Guard immediately notified the families, and he offered his "deepest condolences."
"I can only imagine what this has been like for them," he added. "And I hope that this discovery provides some solace during this difficult time."
As for recovery of the bodies, Mauger said that it will take some time given "this is an incredibly unforgiving environment down there on the sea floor."
In a statement to ET, OceanGate Expeditions said "we now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost."
"This is an extremely sad time for our dedicated employees who are exhausted and grieving deeply over this loss. The entire OceanGate family is deeply grateful for the countless men and women from multiple organizations of the international community who expedited wide-ranging resources and have worked so very hard on this mission," the statement continued. "We appreciate their commitment to finding these five explorers, and their days and nights of tireless work in support of our crew and their families. This is a very sad time for the entire explorer community, and for each of the family members of those lost at sea. We respectfully ask that the privacy of these families be respected during this most painful time."
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