Divers find man still breathing 3 days after his ship sank to the bottom of the ocean: "He's alive!"

Over a decade later, Okene’s miraculous rescue is still doing rounds, dropping jaws on the internet.

PUBLISHED 3 HOURS AGO

(L) A diver swimming through a sunken ship. (Representative Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Atese) | (R) The Nigerian ship worker stuck 100 feet underwater. (Cover Image Source: YouTube | @DCNDiving)

The persistence of life knows no limits. A man from Nigeria once survived underwater for three days despite his fear of water. Maritime ships navigate waterways carrying cargo or in support of other missions, for prolonged periods, and thus, face additional risks of natural calamities in the sea. During one such feat, in 2013, Harrison Okene and his crew on the ship Jascon-4 tugboat were struck by a massive tide that turned their boat upside down, wrecking it. The ship sank about 100 feet into the sea and most of the crew were dead except him. Over a decade later, Okene’s miraculous rescue, documented by BBC News, is still doing rounds dropping jaws on the internet.

Shipwreck in the Ocean. (Representative Image Source: Pexels | Ilya Perelude)

Okene, who was a cook working on the ship at the time, had gone to the bathroom when the fateful tide hit their vessel off the coast of Nigeria. Of the 12 people aboard the ship, only he was fortunate enough to be alive, that too deep underwater. It was after three days that divers from DCN Diving (@DCNDiving), a subsea operations company, were sent to recover the bodies of the crew presumed dead. As they neared the shipwreck, the divers first spotted a pale hand reaching out from the debris. "We found one, yeah," one of the divers said. However, as soon as the hand grasped the diver’s hand, the latter was assured that the person was alive.

Drowning person. (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | mrs)

The diver exclaimed, "He's alive! He's alive!" Probing into the matter, they found poor Oken hiding in an air pocket space amidst the ship’s debris with fear engulfing his face. He panicked as the divers approached him."Hold him there, just keep him there — reassure him, just pat him on the shoulder,” another diver advised to help Okene calm down. They gave him an oxygen mask and harness to help him swim out of the debris and bring him home, all while encouraging him to keep calm and not panic. After some more reassurance, the rescue team headed out of the site to get Okene to the surface of the water.

Two divers exploring a shipwreck deep underneath the ocean. (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Photostock-Israel)

The near-death experience was rather life-changing for the Nigerian man, who was once very fearful of water. Soon after his rescue, Okene was determined to become a diver and enrolled himself in a three-month course two years later. He told The Guardian, “I have faced a lot of my fears in my life, and I decided to face this once and for all. I know it should be my fear, but I don’t need to be scared of water. Because I need to embrace my fear once and for all and be strong.” The man acknowledged that all joys of life and our future are anchored to the decisions we make in our lives.

Therefore, embarking on his pursuit to conquer his greatest fears, Oken reprogrammed himself to become a professional full-time diver, now experienced enough to make repairs on oil and gas vessels until a depth of 165 feet. Safe to say, a decade after the indecent, he is a changed man ready to take up the unprecedented challenges that come his way. As the saying goes, the greatest victories lie on the other side of fear. Oken's firm resolve proved it.