In an astonishing rescue mission, a Nigerian cook left his rescuers astounded after he was found alive “at the bottom of the sea.”
Harrison Okene survived for over two days underwater after the boat he was working on capsized in the Atlantic Ocean.
He was the lone survivor among a 12-man crew when the tugboat Jascon-4 went down off the Nigerian coast on May 26, 2013.
His life was saved by a pocket of breathable air that had formed inside the toilet of the officers’ cabins when the vessel sunk.
Nico van Heerden, tasked with the responsibility of locating and rescuing Mr Okene from the wreckage, said: “It was very unexpected and a total shock to find someone alive after the vessel sank days before.”
Before finding Mr Okene alive, they recovered the bodies of three other crew members who were not as fortunate.
Mr Van Heerden added: “He was not the first person we came across, though. Before we found him, we recovered the bodies of three of his colleagues that perished during the incident. Very tragic indeed.”
He spoke of the rarity of such events saying: “Vessels do sink and people die, but to find someone alive after so long does not happen. I’ve never heard of it happening before.”
Mr Okene had been sound asleep in his cabin when a rogue wave caused the tugboat to capsize miles away from its destination, an oil tanker situated 19 miles off Nigeria’s west coast.
He said: “Before we knew it, we were sinking. We had been sailing for many years, we knew the sea, and we had never had any issue before.”
Mr Okene unsuccessfully attempted to escape through the cabin area but discovered most doors along his path were closed as an anti-pirate measure
He miraculously survived by finding refuge in the officers’ toilet, but was trapped as water flooded the vessel and sent it to the ocean floor.
The cook recounted: “Underwater it was so, so, so, cold. I was struggling to stay alive, wondering how long [the air pocket] would last me.”
“I was thinking about my family, my wife, what would happen, how would she live, how can I get out, thinking about my life as well.”
Clad only in his underwear, Mr Okene endured the icy depths until Mr van Heerden discovered him 100 feet beneath the Atlantic’s surface.
Life support technician Alex Gibbs, involved in the salvage operation, revealed that the man was on the brink of running out of time when located in the ship’s lavatory.
Mr Gibbs observed that rescue footage indicated the buildup of CO2 in the cabin was starting to impact the Nigerian cook, with oxygen levels rapidly depleting.
He explained: “Contrary to popular belief, when people are trapped in confined spaces it is not the oxygen running out that will kill you, it is your own exhaled breath causing a build-up of CO2.
“By the time he had been found, this was at a clearly high level. You can see him panting in the video and his slightly glazed eyes caused by this.”
Despite vowing never to return to the sea, Mr Okene achieved his commercial diving certification in 2015. Mr van Heerden, who had rescued him from the ocean’s depths two years prior, proudly handed him his diploma.