Aahana Swrup
In the survival film ‘Last Breath,’ Alex Parkinson dramatizes the true story of a deep-sea diver who got trapped hundreds of feet under the ocean. When Chris Lemons and his colleagues, Duncan and Dave, go on a routine job to check on some underwater oil pipelines, they expect to fall into their well-established underseas routine. Nonetheless, the rotation ends up being anything but predictable. During the dive, Chris’ umbilical cable—that is keeping him tethered to the ship above the surface—snaps, leaving him vulnerable to the unforgiving elements.
Even so, despite the odds, his crew refuses to give up on him, charting a miraculous rescue operation. Since the film presents an account of events that took place in real life during 2012 in the North Sea, Chris, Dave, and Duncan’s underwater escapades remain consistent with the reality faced by their off-screen counterparts. As such, the actual David “Dave” Yuasa becomes an inevitable point of intrigue.
David Yuasa is Still Diving Into Deep Waters
In 2012, David Yuasa was put on a three-man rotation crew with Duncan Allcock, a veteran diver with years of experience under his belt, and his unofficial mentee, Chris Lemons. At the time, Yuasa was known for his unwavering focus on the job and no-nonsense attitude. As such, he had a celebrated reputation among the other divers. Still, nothing could have prepared him or his crew for the incident that followed. After Lemons’ tethering umbilical cord cable snapped, it left him in the ocean for more than 30 minutes with only a few minute’s worth of emergency oxygen available to him. Even though Yuasa, Allcock, and their crew above the surface were able to execute a rescue mission for Lemons, the latter still had to go around 29 minutes without any oxygen.
Yet, once rescued, the diver walked away from the experience without any notable lasting physical or mental damage. In fact, three weeks later—once he had been greenlit by medical professionals—Lemons returned to finish the job with Yuasa and Allcock by his side. As such, the daunting experience, though unfortunate, hasn’t dampened anyone’s passion for their dangerous job. To this day, Yuasa continues working as a Saturation Diver. However, he and Lemons have since left their former employer, Bibby Offshore, and joined Boskalis Subsea Services. Thus, as of writing, Yuasa continues to pursue his passion, undertaking routine checkups at the great unknown of the ocean bed.
David Yuasa Visited Alex Parkinson’s Film Set and Lended His Expertise
While David Yuasa continues his professional deep-diving career, he prefers to remain out of the media’s spotlight. Still, when Alex Parkinson worked on developing ‘Last Breath,’ based on his and Richard da Costa’s eponymous documentary, the diver became a small but significant part of the process. Yuasa, along with Chris Lemons and Duncan Allcock, visited the film set in Malta, where they had conversations with the cast and crew to help them maintain authentic ties between reality and their cinematic counterpart. He was also involved in the documentary itself, regaling the audience with his first-hand experiences.
Consequently, given their support and involvement with the film, the trio attended the premiere in New York City. “We (Yuasa, Lemons, and Allcock) have all remained close friends,” Lemons told NBC Insider. “The (‘Last Breath’) premiere was fantastic fun, but mostly because we got the opportunity to get the band back together and spend time in New York. It’s a bond that is very personal to those who were closely involved, but one which is mostly acknowledged with nothing more than a look or a nod.” Thus, it seems their public reunion was their first in quite some time. Still, the friendship between Yuasa and his 2012 crew mates remains as strong as ever. Nonetheless, outside of the same, the diver’s life remains out of the spotlight and behind a curtain of privacy.
