Harrison Okene remained in bubble within upturned boat at depths experts say would be fatal for even experienced divers Monica Mark in Lagos Wed 12 Jun 2013 12.23 EDT He got really worried when he heard the sound of fish, shark or barracudas he supposed, eating and fighting over something big. He’s alive.”. He figured, given the size of the boat, that it would take a miracle for a diver to locate him. The video showing Okene was also consistent with additional photos of him on the rescue ship. “How it wasn’t full of water is anyone’s guess. Once free of the sunken boat, he was put into a decompression chamber and then safely returned to the surface. Normally you would dive recreationally for no more than 20 minutes at those depths,” said a training consultant from the Professional Association of Diving Instructors. When he found a cabin of the sunken vessel that felt safe, he began the long wait, getting colder and colder as he played back a mental tape of his life — remembering his mother, friends, mostly the woman he’d married five years before with whom he had not yet fathered a child. Beyond The Headlines: why superstorms are the new normal. Facebook. Harrison Okene is a Nigerian cook who was dramatically rescued from the seabed. Harrison Okene, who was a 29-year-old cook, was the sole survivor of the Jacson-4, which overturned after being battered by heavy swells. Is new Covid strain more dangerous for children? LAGOS, NIGERIA // Entombed at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in an upended tugboat for three days, Harrison Odjegba Okene begged God for a miracle. Beyond the Headlines: how will the US election play out? Scrambling out, he was unable to reach an emergency exit hatch and watched in horror as three crew members were sucked into the churning sea. The divers had already recovered four bodies. Eleven other crew members died as the vessel sank some 12 miles (20 km) off Nigeria’s mangrove-lined coast. Once Harrison had been located, there were worries he would panic during the rescue, while his body had absorbed potentially fatal amounts of nitrogen. Beyond the Headlines: How will Joe Biden change US policy in the Middle East? He was rescued by a diver who first used hot water to warm him up, then attached him to an oxygen mask. 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He discovered some tools and a life vest with two flashlights, which he stuffed into his shorts. Always an early riser, he was in the toilet when the tug, one of three towing an oil tanker in Nigeria’s oil-rich Delta waters, gave a sudden lurch and then keeled over. Okene said, “They told me all the others had died and I cried because I thought I was the only one who had been trapped in the boat”, his voice cracking. I was so hungry and thirsty and cold and I was just praying to see some kind of light.”. Higher Self is a community portal on the topics of the Uni verse, astrology, numerology, sacred geometry, quantum energies, epigenetics, lightworkers, channeling our galactic family, Ascended Masters, and Angels, twin flames, unconditional love, and about the latest news from the higher realms, the nature of reality, our liberation, and ascension. Okene, a 29-year-old ship’s cook was working on the Friday, August 21, 2020 Okene was strapped into diving equipment, then led to a diving bell which took him to the surface, where he spent two days in a decompression chamber. Pinterest. Harrison okene. Okene’s day began like any other, preparing meals for his colleagues on board. Wednesday Dec 23, 2020. The AP also contacted Okene, who confirmed the events. He had been underwater for almost 60 hours when he heard a hammering on the deck. | (Photo: LiveLeak Screenshot) After a boat capsized off the coast of Nigeria earlier this year, authorities feared that all 12 of those on board had perished. I would say someone was looking after him.”, READ ALSO: See Top Five Fascinating Underwater Restaurant (Photos). The thought of a shipwreck is harrowing, but for Harrison Okene, his worst fears became a reality. Okene really thought he was going to die, he told the Nation, when he heard the sound of a boat engine and anchor dropping, but failed to get the attention of rescuers. He worried about his colleagues — 10 Nigerians and the Ukrainian captain including four young cadets from Nigeria’s Maritime Academy. A team of South African divers scouring the waters on a presumed body recovery operation were shocked to hear faint hammering in reply. Divers sent to the scene were looking only for bodies, according to Tony Walker, project manager for the Dutch company DCN Diving, who were called to the scene because they were working on a neighbouring oilfield 120 kilometres away. Harrison Okene gives Nico van Heerden a bit of a scare while on a rescue / recovery mission.Harrison Okene was trapped for 60 hours in pocket of air. Harrison Okene: The man who survived a shipwreck spending 60 hours in seawater - Face2Face Africa 15-04-2020 20:00 via face2faceafrica.com Harrison Okene: The man who survived a shipwreck spending 60 hours in seawater Face2Face Africa “I was dazed and everywhere was dark as I was thrown from one end of the small cubicle to another,” he said after his rescue with Nigeria’s Nation newspaper. “For the guy that was trapped because he didn’t know what was happening. WARRI, Nigeria (Reuters) - After two days trapped in freezing cold water and breathing from an air bubble in an upturned tugboat under the ocean, Harrison Okene was sure he was going to die. Mr Walker said Mr Okene could not have lasted much longer. The AP also contacted Mr Okene on Tuesday who confirmed the events. Harrison Okene remained in a bubble within upturned boat at depths experts say would be fatal for even experienced divers. So when a hand appeared on the TV screen Walker was monitoring in the rescue boat, showing what the diver in the Jascon saw, everybody assumed it was another corpse. The case of Harrison Odjegba Okene is not any different, what makes his case unique is the circumstances surrounding it. Sailor Harrison Okene discusses his experience surviving underwater for almost three days in an air pocket after his tugboat capsized. In 2013, the world was stunned by the astonishing survival story of tugboat chef Harrison Okene. 3 days shipwreck survival in Nigeria at of 12 crew onboard in may 26th, 2013 in a crude oil tanker vessel mooring operation in chevron escravos SBM3 deep offshore. As the temperature dropped to freezing, Mr Okene, dressed only in boxer shorts, recited the last psalm his wife had sent by text message, sometimes called the Prayer for Deliverance: “Oh God, by your name, save me. I read the Bible from Psalm 54 to 92. 11 other crew members died as the vessel sank some 12 miles (20 km) off Nigeria’s mangrove-lined coast. “His heart wouldn’t have been able to pump [back on land] because it was just so full of gas,” said Christine Cridge, medical director of the Plymouth-based Diving Diseases Research Centre \, who advised the rescue team. So he waded across the cabin, stripped the wall down to its steel body, then knocked on it with a hammer. Telling his story to UK news outlet The Guardian in 2013, Okene described his feeling when he was submerged along […] Mohammed Bin Salman receives first shot of Covid vaccine, Five university degrees that will be vital in a post-Covid-19 world, It’s ‘impossible’ to take Tesla private, Musk says, Why private jet travel is no longer the preserve of the rich and famous, Cristiano Ronaldo joins Sheikh Hamdan for a treadmill run in Dubai, UAE reports 1,230 new infections as active cases drop, How Britain's 'red line' Brexit demands were met, Iraq faces economic shock after currency devaluation. August 25, 2020. But “I heard them moving away. I started reminiscing on the verses I read before I slept. Beyond the Headlines: will Azerbaijan's victory in Nagorno-Karabakh lead to lasting peace? The full video of the rescue captured by divers was released by DCN Diving after a request from the Associated Press. 23° ... Harrison Odjegba Okene begged God for a miracle. The authenticity of the video was confirmed through conversations with DCN employees in the Netherlands. Meet the Nigerian sailor who survived for almost three days underwater by crouching in an air bubble after his tugboat capsized has spoken about his ordeal. Twitter. ... By John Percy 21 Dec 2020, 10:00pm. 1. září, 2020 1. září, 2020 3 minuty Michaela Richterová Zajímavosti Lodní kuchař původem z Nigérie – Harrison Odjegba Okene – se ráno 26. května roku 2013 na lodi, kde pracoval, probudil a … “To survive that long at that depth is phenomenal. The Lord sustains my life.”. Beyond The Headlines: How will Arab Americans vote in US presidential election? “It was frightening for everybody,” he said. He moved his way out of the toilet and tried to find a vent, propping doors open as he moved on. Initially, a shorter version of the rescue emerged on the internet. “I went to the water and touched the diver. October 3, 2020. Okene kept faith with the psalm he recited, that promises to “give thanks in your name, Lord,” at a service at his Redeemed Christian Church of God. As a diver’s light approached, Okene hesitated to swim outside the air pocket in case the startled diver might use a jack-knife on him. He survived off just one bottle of Coke, all he had to sustain him during the trauma. Human remains found near site of Nashville explosion, Beyond the Headlines: Stories from 2020 of Covid-19 and beyond. 2120. “The diver acknowledged that he had seen the hand and then, when he went to grab the hand, the hand grabbed him!” Mr Walker said in a telephone interview. Harrison Okene, Sailor. Eleven other crew members died as the vessel sank some 12 miles (20 km) off Nigeria’s mangrove-lined coast. According to his interview with the Nation: “I started calling on the name of God. His ordeal began around 4.30am on May 26. Beyond The Headlines: Memories of Mosul three years after ISIS, Beyond The Headlines: The UAE's tactic against food crisis, Beyond the Headlines: Iran's secret affair with Al Qaeda, Ethiopia's Abiy Ahmed – from Nobel Peace Prize to the brink of war. Usually, waking up in the early morning hours seems a bit tedious of a task. Mr Okene recalls hearing: “There’s a survivor! A video of Okene’s rescue in May that was posted on the internet more than six months later has gone viral this week. It is also a story that Okene believes justifies his faith. As the waters rose, he made a rack on top of a platform and piled two mattresses on top. Okene’s day began like any other, preparing meals for his colleagues on board. Harrison Okene, a 29-year-old cook, was the sole survivor of the Jackson-4, which overturned after being battered by heavy swells in 2013. Okene… In 2013, the world was stunned by the astonishing survival story of tugboat chef Harrison Okene. A Nigerian ship's cook, Harrison Odjegba Okene, survived for 60 hours in a sunken tugboat, Jascon-4, that capsized on 26 May 2013 in heavy seas while it was stabilising an oil tanker at a Chevron platform in the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean, about 32 km (20 mi) off the Nigerian coast. We remain enveloped by the atmosphere of drowsiness, end up being lazy and eventually avoid the morning sunshine. They would have locked themselves into their cabins, standard procedure in an area stalked by pirates. They were far away from where I was.”. In 2013, Harrison Okene was in the washroom when his tugboat capsized and rapidly started to sink in the coast of Nigeria. REUTERS/Joe Brock Please enter your username or email address to reset your password. “It was around 5am and I was on the toilet when the vessel just started going down – the speed was so, so fast,” Okene said by phone from his hometown of Warri. Then a torch light pierced the darkness. “All the Australians have been on diving forums going, wow! The other 11 seaman aboard the Jascon 4 died. By the time he was saved, relatives already had been told the sailors were dead. A video of Okene’s rescue in May that was posted on the internet more than six months later has gone viral this week. Harrison was involved in an incident in 2013, where he was trapped under the Atlantic Ocean for three days before he was rescued. Harrison Okene, 29, poses for a photograph after an interview with Reuters outside an hotel in Nigeria's oil city of Warri June 12, 2013. View the profiles of people named Harrison Okene. Join Facebook to connect with Harrison Okene and others you may know. Harrison Okene, a 36-year-old cook, was the sole survivor of the Jacson-4, which overturned after being battered by heavy swells in 2013. The 2013 story of Harrison Okene surviving in the cold torturous Atlantic Ocean 60 hours after a shipwreck is a triumph of the human will. My wife had sent me the verses to read that night when she called me before I went to bed.”. Harrison Okene, who was a 29-year-old cook, was the sole survivor of the Jacson-4, which overturned after being battered by heavy swells. The Nigerian cook survived by breathing an ever-dwindling supply of oxygen in an air pocket. He was trapped for almost three days in an air bubble under his sunken ship and feared he'd be eaten by sharks. Beyond The Headlines: Lebanon's year of turmoil and disasters, Beyond the Headlines: The challenges of finding a Covid-19 vaccine. Harrison Okene was the lone survivor in the shipwreck that killed eleven of his crew members earlier this year. Harrison Okene was in the bathroom of the Jascon 4 in the early hours when the tug begun to capsize in heavy seas, 20 miles off the Nigerian coast. The video showing the cook was also consistent with additional photos of him on the rescue ship. Eleven other crew members died as the vessel sank some 12 miles (20 km) off Nigeria’s mangrove-lined coast. Despite suffering from nightmares and peeling skin, daily helpings of his favourite banga soup dish – a fish and palm fruit soup – have helped him feel much better, he said. So I stepped back and just held my hand in the waters and waved it in front of his camera so they would see the images above deck.”, “The diver walked in and at the back, there was an air pocket he was sitting in,” Paul MacDonald, an officer on the support vessel wrote on Facebook. I was crying and calling on Jesus to rescue me, I prayed so hard. Harrison Odjegba Okene with members of the diving team who saved him from a sunken tugboat says there was no black magic used in his rescue. The Nigerian cook survived by breathing an ever-dwindling supply of oxygen in an air pocket. “He was incredibly lucky he was in an air pocket but he would have had a limited time ... he wouldn’t be able to breathe anymore.”. He is planning to write a book on his experience. His rescuers from the Dutch company DCN Diving, were looking only for bodies and already had recovered four corpses when they came upon Okene. But he could be absolutely fine from now on,” Cridge said. READ ALSO: Heavy Flood Sweeps Away Top Civil Servant In Abuja(Opens in a new browser tab), “All around me was just black, and noisy. 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.”, On the video, there’s an exclamation of fear and shock from Okene’s rescuer, and then joy as the realisation sets in. Harrison Okene’s Capsizing Boat. 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