Relatives of Titanic Victims Share Their Disgust Over Shipwreck Tourism on CNN: ‘Why Do You Have to Do That?’

CNN interviewed the relatives of two victims from the 1912 sinking of the Titanic on Wednesday, who criticized tourism to the shipwreck amid the widespread search for a missing submersible which was visiting the remnants of the ship.

Married couple Angelica Harris and John Locascio, whose uncles died in the sinking of the Titanic more than 111 years ago, appeared on CNN Tonight after Locascio called tourism to the site “disgusting” in an interview with the Daily Beast.

Locascio told CNN on Wednesday, “I compare it to looking inside a grave. I mean, people died there tragically, very tragically.”

He questioned, “Why make it a place for people to go see? Why, why do you have to do that? Let the people rest. Dead bodies are there, or what’s left of them. The ship is there, or what’s left of it, and it’s just a peaceful site there right now, or as peaceful as can be.”

Asked whether he believed his uncles were being “disrespected” by tourism to the shipwreck, Locascio responded, “I would say, in my opinion, yeah. I wouldn’t— if I were them, if my soul was there, I wouldn’t want people coming down to take a look at me… I don’t feel that it would be a very comfortable situation, to have people just looking, ogling. It makes no sense.”

Harris, meanwhile, called on those who do visit the shipwreck to revere the location as a grave and to remember the many loved ones who rest there.

“If you’re going to go down there, just revere the Titanic as a grave,” she said. “As a place where, you know, a loved one is. I mean, for us it’s our uncles who are our loved ones, but there are many other loved ones who are there and it’s obvious by the shoes that are being found, and the jewellery, and the plates.”

She noted, “Just by looking at Titanic you could see the tragic and the violence. They died by violence. They didn’t died, you know, peacefully. It wasn’t like they fell asleep and woke up the next day in heaven.”

The Titan, an OceanGate submersible with 5 passengers and crew members, went missing on June 18 during an expedition to the Titanic shipwreck. Among those on board were OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, British billionaire Hamish Harding, 77-year-old explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood.

Watch above via CNN.