James Cameron is opening up about the time he narrowly escaped death on the set of his 1989 film The Abyss.

While appearing at Beyond Fest in Los Angeles on a panel after a screening of The Abyss: Special Edition, the filmmaker revealed that he nearly didnt survive to see the film actually hit the theaters due to an underwater mishap, according to Variety .

We had the angels, which were the safety divers that were right there, and each one was assigned to one or two of the actors and just kept them in sight the whole time. [But] they werent watching me, Cameron explained Wednesday of the precautions his team had in place for everyones safety while filming.

Cameron, 69, said the flick was shot 30 feet down under water, which meant he had to wear heavy weights around his feet and waist to keep him submerged so he could move his camera around.

But one day on set, the unthinkable happened.

The director said he ran out of air at one point and tried to alert the underwater director of photography, Al Giddings, on the PA system.

His warnings fell on deaf ears though, as Cameron explained to the panels moderator, Jim Hemphill, that Giddings had been involved in a diving accident and he blew out both eardrums so he was deaf as a post.

Im wasting my last breath of air on an underwater p.a. system going Al Al and hes working away with his back to me, he added of the horrifying incident.

Cameron said that he was able to remove his gear and tried to resurface to get air, but thats when another hiccup took place.

He said the angels began trying to help him, but wound up making matters worse by shoving a faulty breathing mask in his mouth.

He sticks a regulator in my mouth that he didnt check. It had been banging around the bottom of the tank for three weeks and had a rip through the diaphragm, so I purged carefully and took a deep breath of water. And then I purged it again, and I took another deep breath of water, he said.

At that point it was almost check-out point and the safety divers are taught to hold you down so you dont embolize and let your lungs overexpand going up, he continued.

Cameron said though he knew what he was doing as an experienced diver, but the safety diver wouldnt let him go.

This left the Titanic filmmaker only one choiceto throw blows at the diving assistant.

I had no way to tell him the regulator wasnt working. So I punched him in the face and swam to the surface and therefore survived, Cameron shared.

The Abyss was considered a box-office disappointment when it released, only earning around $9 million nationally. The film was initially met with mixed reviews, but later became a cult classic.