In an extraordinary tale of survival, a man endured two and a half days stranded in a bathroom at the ocean’s depths, clad only in his underwear, after waking up to use the toilet.
Harrison Okene’s defiance of death occurred 11 years ago when his boat overturned 20 miles from Nigeria’s coastline, and water swept him into the sole room with an air pocket.
Currently, a chilling simulation by YouTube channel Brew illustrates how the 29-year-old survived 60 hours underwater on the Gulf of Guinea’s seafloor, part of the Atlantic Ocean.
In 2013, Harrison was a cook on Jascon-4, a tugboat with 12 others, tasked with stabilizing an oil tanker.
One fateful night, a massive wave capsized the tugboat, flipping it and the crew.
When the wave hit, Harrison was on the toilet, dressed only in boxers, and water rapidly filled the cubicle, causing him to panic.
He managed to open the door, stepping into darkness but could see the propellers up and wheelhouse down.
Harrison encountered a few colleagues battling the boat’s hatch as water levels rose.
Yet, the water’s pressure pushed him further into the vessel into another bathroom linked to the second engineer’s cabin.
Assuming his fate was sealed, he was unaware this move saved him, as the bathroom had an air pocket.
He held onto the washbasin base, keeping his head in the small air space at the ceiling, which was now the floor.
Watch the detailed simulation on YouTube:
Harrison inadvertently broke the bathroom’s door handle, still believing the main exit was his salvation.
He then realized the boat had settled on the ocean bed.
“But I told myself, instead of panicking, you have to think of a way out,” he told the Guardian. “The air couldn’t go out of the boat completely. Some had to be trapped inside.”
He eventually found two mattresses, stacking them to remain above the rising water in his confined space.
“I tried to kill the fear in front of me,” he said. “Because one thing that can kill you fast is fear.
“That panic that comes at you, it kills you before your real death comes.
“Because the moment you start panicking, you use too much oxygen.”
After 60 hours without food or water, and dwindling air, Harrison’s prayers were answered.
A diving team arrived to recover bodies from the wreck, and Harrison, noticing lights and sounds, ventured out and connected with a diver who saved him.
The dramatic rescue was captured on film.
He was then transported from the diver’s bell to a recompression chamber, remaining there for three additional days to avoid decompression sickness.
“Everything was normal. My temperature, blood pressure. I thought, that’s not normal,” he later explained.
Interestingly, after surviving this ordeal as the sole survivor, he overcame his fear of the sea and became a licensed commercial diver in 2015.
The diver who rescued him later presented Harrison with his diving diploma, concluding his incredible journey.