NEWFOUNDLAND, Canada -- "Titanic" director James Cameron, who has explored the ship's wreckage site himself, called the implosion of a submersible that vanished on a Titanic tour Sunday "quite surreal."
All passengers are believed to be dead after a desperate dayslong search for the Titan, a 21-foot deep-sea vessel operated by OceanGate Expeditions. Coast Guard officials said during a news conference Thursday said debris found during the search for the vessel is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber.
Cameron noted that one of the passengers killed, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, was a friend of his.
"For him to have died tragically in this way is almost impossible for me to process," Cameron told ABC News Thursday.
He also compared the Titan's demise to the story of the Titanic, which sank on its maiden 1912 voyage after striking an iceberg.
"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."
Watch the full interview with James Cameron in the media player above.
ABC Owned TV Stations contributed to this report.
