Harrison Okene was working as a cook aboard the tugboat Jascon-4 off the Nigerian coast when, in the early hours of May 26, 2013, the vessel capsized and sank. The tug was involved in operations connected with an oil tanker when heavy seas overwhelmed it. Twelve people were aboard. Eleven died. Okene, then 29, became the sole survivor after finding a pocket of trapped air inside the overturned vessel on the seabed (The Maritime Executive, 2013; Mark, 2013).
Okene later described being in or near a bathroom when the vessel suddenly began to go down. The event unfolded so quickly that there was little opportunity for an orderly evacuation. Water rushed through the vessel, darkness took over, and he was thrown about inside the interior. The tug eventually came to rest upside down at a depth of roughly 30 metres, or about 100 feet. Okene found himself trapped inside rather than escaping into open water (Mark, 2013; Associated Press, 2013).
What kept him alive was an air pocket inside the wreck. He moved through the flooded interior until he found a space where he could keep his head above the water. Reports describe him using material inside the cabin, including mattresses, to keep as much of his body as possible out of the cold water. He had very little food or drink and no way of knowing whether rescuers believed anyone could still be alive inside the vessel. The conditions were dark, cold and psychologically extreme (Mark, 2013; Associated Press, 2013).
There is a small but important reporting difference in the way the duration is described. Contemporary accounts commonly report that Okene survived for almost 60 hours before divers reached him, while some later reports summarize the ordeal as three days or about 72 hours. Because the sinking occurred on May 26 and he was found during the subsequent recovery operation, ‘roughly 60 hours’ is the more cautious figure for the period before direct contact with divers. This is a good example of why dramatic true stories should not be repeated using the largest number available when sources differ (Mark, 2013; Associated Press, 2013).
The divers who entered Jascon-4 were not expecting a live rescue. They were conducting what had become a body-recovery operation. Video later released to the public shows the astonishing moment a diver encountered Okene. The diver initially believed he was moving among the dead, then Okene reached toward him. The discovery changed the operation immediately from recovery to rescue (Associated Press, 2013).
Getting Okene out of the wreck was not as simple as bringing him straight to the surface. He had spent a prolonged period at a pressure far greater than normal atmospheric pressure because he was breathing trapped air at depth. A rapid ascent could have exposed him to serious decompression injury. Divers therefore supplied breathing equipment and transferred him in a controlled manner. He was placed in a decompression chamber before he could safely return to normal surface pressure (Associated Press, 2013).
Okene’s survival was extraordinary, but it was not supernatural proof that an air pocket can keep any trapped person alive indefinitely. The trapped gas was finite, carbon dioxide would accumulate, the cold imposed additional stress, and the surrounding water pressure complicated rescue. One early report quoted diving experts describing his survival as exceptional. The circumstances happened to provide just enough trapped air and space for long enough that a professional dive team reached the wreck before conditions became fatal (Mark, 2013).
The human cost of the accident should remain part of the story. Okene survived, but 11 colleagues did not. The vessel’s operator publicly confirmed the discovery of Okene alive and stated that the search would continue until the remaining crew were accounted for. Later reporting recorded how heavily the loss of his colleagues remained connected to his memory of the event (The Maritime Executive, 2013; Cocozza, 2023).
Years later, Okene’s case remains one of the clearest modern examples of survival in a submerged wreck because the rescue itself was recorded and because both the vessel operator and multiple news organizations documented the event. Its most remarkable feature is not a vague claim that a man ‘lived underwater for three days.’ He did not breathe water. He survived in a trapped pocket of air inside a vessel resting about 30 metres below the surface, and then required a technically careful rescue because of the pressure at which he had been living. That distinction makes the real story more accurate and, if anything, more impressive (Associated Press, 2013; Cocozza, 2023).
Fact-check note
The sinking, Okene’s survival in an air pocket, the approximate 30-metre depth, the deaths of 11 colleagues and the filmed rescue are well documented. Reports vary between ‘almost 60 hours’ and ‘three days/72 hours’; this article uses the more cautious ‘roughly 60 hours’ and explains the discrepancy.
References
Associated Press. (2013, December 3). Video shows rescue of ship’s cook after three days under water. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/03/video-rescue-ships-cook-three-days-under-water
Mark, M. (2013, June 12). Nigerian sailor ‘a phenomenon’ for surviving in air pocket for 60 hours. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/12/nigeria-sailor-survive-air-pocket
Cocozza, P. (2023, September 26). I survived three days in a capsized boat on the ocean floor – praying in my air bubble. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/sep/26/i-survived-three-days-in-a-capsized-boat-on-the-ocean-floor-praying-in-my-air-bubble
The Maritime Executive. (2013, May 29). Chevron-contracted vessel sinks off Nigeria, 12 crew missing. https://maritime-executive.com/article/ChevronContracted-Vessel-Sinks-Off-Nigeria-12-Crew-Missing-2013-05-28
Disclaimer
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