Three Days After Capsizing, Divers Find This At The Bottom Of The Ocean

On a seemingly normal day in 2013, a tugboat was towing an oil tanker right off the coast of Nigeria. All of a sudden, a massive unexpected wave caused the boat to capsize and caused the tow rope to snap off. The boat sank to the bottom of the water. Three days later, when divers were searching the area for the capsized boat, what they found ended up blowing their minds.

Looking For Remains

The divers pursued their undertaking of looking for the capsized boat with heavy hearts. Three days had passed, and there was little to no hope left to find survivors. At the very least, they wanted to find bodies so the victims’ families could have some closure.

What Happened

When the boat capsized, it was about 4:30 in the morning, so most of the crew were asleep in their beds. As a safety precaution, the crew were used to locking their doors in order to avoid dealing with pirates. What they didn’t know is that this would lead to disaster.

Locked In

Since the crew members were locked in their rooms and asleep, by the time it must have been clear that something was wrong on the boat, it was too late. This rendered them unable to escape in time before the ship sank.

An Exception

One crew member named Harrison Okene, who is a Nigerian cook, happened to have left his room to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. He had no idea that this sleepy trip to the bathroom would end up saving his life.

In His Words

As the boat started to capsize, Okene found himself wearing only his boxer shorts when he was tossed out of the bathroom. He said: “I was dazed, and everywhere was dark as I was thrown from one end of the small cubicle to another.”

Sheer Luck

Okene had no idea that he was actually the lucky one in this situation. He must have been absolutely terrified being tossed around from one side of the ship to another, but at least he was not trapped in his room. No other passengers were able to survive the ordeal.

Reaching The Seafloor

After being tossed around, Okene was able to make his way into the engineers’ office. There he was able to keep breathing through a small pocket of air. At that point, the boat reached the seafloor, about 100 feet underwater.

Left Alone

Okene found himself trapped underwater all alone without any clothing, food, or fresh water to drink. He was trapped in this freezing room with barely any oxygen to breathe. There was little hope for his survival.

A Moment Of Prayer

Okene had no idea what would happen. He said: “All around me was just black and noisy,” he said. “I was crying and calling on Jesus to rescue me, I prayed so hard. I was so hungry and thirsty and cold and I was just praying to see some kind of light.””

Barely Managing

By sheer miracle, Okene was able to survive. With another stroke of luck, he found a bottle of Coca Cola and a life vest that had flashlights on it in the room that he was in. This was the moment where he felt there was a chance for him to survive.

Danger Lurking

Despite this bit of luck, Okene suddenly realized that there was danger nearby. He heard some sharks and other underwater predators in the area, and he realized that they had consumed the remains of the other crew members. He was absolutely terrified.

Swimming To Safety

Luckily, Okene was able to fashion a small platform out of two mattresses that were in the room and was able to keep him outside of the water. He knew that if he had stayed any longer under the freezing cold water, he would have died of hypothermia.

Turning To Prayer

Okene shared: “I started calling on the name of G-d… I started reminiscing on the verses I read before I slept. I read the Bible from Psalm 54 to 92. My wife had sent me the verses to read that night when she called me before I went to bed.”

Hoping To Survive

Okene spent three long days praying and thinking about his loved ones. He was trying not to give up hope, but as time progressed, it was getting harder and harder. Then, out of nowhere, he noticed something that made his heart jump.

The Divers

Okene was making peace with the idea that he would not survive when he suddenly heard the engine of a boat along with an anchor being dropped. He knew that this was his only chance to get out and survive.

Looking For Bodies

The divers, who worked for Dutch company DCN Diving, were working at a nearby oil field about 75 miles away. They did not think in their wildest dreams that there would be any survivors, and they had already found four bodies during their search.

So Close

Okene realized that he was trapped inside the vessel and he wasn’t sure that the divers would see him. He managed to pull the outer layer of the cabin’s wall down. He started knocking on the wall to make enough noise, but he realized that the divers were moving away and were already far from him.

Making Noise

He said: “I heard them moving away. They were far away from where I was.” Okene found a hammer and started pounding on the wall, and while at first the divers didn’t hear him, all of sudden, he realized that they had noticed him there. Relief washed over him as the divers approached. He had no idea how long he had been trapped there, but he was just glad it was over.

Total Shock

When the divers spotted a hand on the TV monitor they were using in the rescue boat, they thought they found another body. The divers couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

The Moving Hand

Tony Walker, the project manager at DCN Diving shared: “The diver acknowledged that he had seen the hand and then, when he went to grab the hand, the hand grabbed him!”

An Unreal Situation

He continued: “It was frightening for everybody. For the guy that was trapped because he didn’t know what was happening. It was a shock for the diver while he was down there looking for bodies, and we [in the control room] shot back when the hand grabbed him on the screen.”

They Couldn’t Believe It

Okene’s rescuer couldn’t believe it. Okene said that he heard shouts saying: “There’s a survivor! He’s alive.” Walker shared that he was just barely alive, though. He said: “He was incredibly lucky he was in an air pocket but he would have had a limited time [before] … he wouldn’t be able to breathe anymore.”

Stuck For Days

Once the divers found Okene, they attached him to an oxygen tank to help him with his breathing. They also warmed him up using some hot water so that they could prevent him for getting hypothermia and could finally get his body temperature back to normal.

A Miracle

Physicist and recreational scuba diver Maxim Umansky of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) shared: “This man was lucky to survive mainly because a sufficiently large amount of trapped air was in his air pocket.”

The Ocean Water Helped

He continued: “He was not poisoned by the CO2 after 60 hours spent there, because it stayed at safe levels, and we can speculate that it was helped by the ocean water sealing his enclosure.”

What He Thought

Okene shared: “When we came out, I saw the stars in the sky and I thought I must have been in the water for the whole day. It was after I left the DCC [decompression chamber] that I was told that I had spent over two days there.”

After His Rescue

A lot of people who managed to survive a terrifying situation like Okene might not ever get near the ocean ever again. However, that was not the case with brave Okene. What did he decide to do instead?

Commercial Diver

Okene became a commercial diver two years after he was rescued from that fateful boat trip. His bravery and unbreakable spirit has inspired so many as Okene showed that the human spirit is truly a force to be reckoned with.

Remembering The Victims

The rest of the crew on the ship were not as lucky as Okene. His colleagues included 10 Nigerians and their Ukrainian captain. Of the 10 Nigerians, four of them were young cadets at Nigeria’s Maritime Academy.

How Did He Survive?

Many have wondered how on earth it was even possible for Okene to survive. He was found in an air pocket, which he estimated was about 4 feet high. The answer can be explained by a bit of physics.

Some Physics

Humans inhale about 350 cubic feet of air every 24 hours. Since Okene was under pressure on the ocean floor, Maxim Umansky has estimated that Okene’s air pocket was actually compressed by about a factor of four. So what does that mean?

The Air Pocket

If the pressurized air pocket was about 216 cubic feet, then it would be able to contain enough oxygen to sustain Okene for 2 and a half days, or 60 hours.

What About The CO2?

Since humans breathe out carbon dioxide (CO2), and concentrations of 5% is lethal to humans, wouldn’t that mean that Okene would breathe out toxic amount of CO2? Luckily, water absorbs CO2, which means that the water splashed inside the air pocket kept the CO2 levels low enough for him to survive.

Avoiding Hypothermia

Okene was very lucky since extreme hypothermia can be fatal. Even if the water is 60 degrees Fahrenheit, humans can become unconscious in about two hours, according to estimates by University of Minnesota.

The Mattresses

However, because Okene was able to use the mattresses as a small platform, he stayed above water level. He was able to avoid exposing his body to the freezing ocean water, which would have surely caused him to have extreme hypothermia within a few hours only.

Another Incredible Story

Okene’s story is truly an incredible one, but it is not the only story of a chance survival at seat. In 1991, Michael Proudfoot was scuba diving underwater off the Baja California coast, exploring a shipwreck there.

Losing Air Supply

Michael suddenly realized that he had accidentally smashed his breathing regular, which had caused him to lose absolutely all of his air supply. This could have been a total disaster, just like in Okene’s story.

Finding An Air Pocket

Proudfoot completely lucked out as he too found an air pocket, which allowed him to survive for two whole days. He reportedly survived for two whole days by eating sea urchins and with a small supply of fresh water before he was rescued.

A Miracle Survival

British diver Chris Lemons was about 330 feet underwater during routine oil-rig maintenance work. He was attached to a support ship via cord. Suddenly, the cord was completely severed.

Totally Cut Off

The cord was providing Lemons with oxygen and power for his headlamp, and since it was severed, he had no way of communicating with anyone and he was cut off from his air supply.

Losing The Diver

He was trapped with about 5 minutes worth of oxygen left in his suit, but the crew knew it would take about 30 minutes to actually rescue him. The crew member who pulled up the severed cord yelled out: “I’ve lost my diver! I’ve lost my diver!”

The Luckiest Person

Lemons shared: “I realized very quickly that the end was nigh. I was on a countdown clock, and it was counting very fast.” However, despite the slim chances of his survival, the crew pulled out his unconscious body about 30 minutes later, and by some miracle, Lemons was able to survive and did not have any permanent damage to his body.