Chef Rescued After 3 Days Trapped Underwater: A Miraculous Story
At a depth of 33 meters beneath the Atlantic Ocean, divers were in the process of retrieving bodies from a sunken tugboat. Suddenly, an unusual sight appeared before them: a human hand. Initially, the divers assumed the hand belonged to a corpse and began moving towards it. However, when a diver reached out to grasp the hand, something extraordinary happened: the hand clutched back.
Tony Walker, project manager for DCN Diving in the Netherlands, described this moment in an interview. “When the diver reached out and took the hand, it unexpectedly grabbed his hand in return,” Walker said. This moment caused shock and then an outburst of joy as the rescuers realized that the person trapped was still alive.
The survivor was Harrison Odjegba Okene, a Nigerian chef who had survived three days on the sunken tugboat Jascon 4. Okene had been using an oxygen bag nearby to stay alive. A video of Okene’s rescue, which took place in May, was recently published on YouTube, astonishing and moving many viewers.
Okene recounted that as the surrounding temperature dropped to freezing, he was wearing only a pair of boxer shorts and began to pray. All 11 other crew members on the tugboat had perished. In the video, the divers’ shock and fear upon discovering that Okene was still alive are evident, followed by their immense joy as they realized he had survived.
“It was truly shocking for everyone,” Walker said in an interview on December 3. “The guy had been trapped for three days. When the divers were searching for bodies, they were startled when they saw Okene’s hand grabbing the diver’s hand through the monitor.”
Walker noted that if Okene had not been rescued at that moment, he would not have been able to survive much longer. “He was extremely lucky. His oxygen bag was almost empty, and he wouldn’t have been able to last much longer,” Walker explained.
The full video of the rescue was released by DCN Diving after a request from AP. Initially, only a shortened version of the rescue appeared online. The authenticity of the video has been confirmed through interviews with the divers and Okene.
According to the Washington Post, Okene’s ordeal began at 4:30 a.m. on May 26 when he was in the tugboat’s bathroom. The boat suddenly started sinking. “I was shocked to see all the lights go out,” Okene recalled in an interview with the local newspaper The Nation.
Fumbling to get out of the bathroom, Okene found an oxygen bag and some other tools. Realizing the ship was sinking, he felt scared and thought about his family, friends, especially his wife. Just when he thought he was going to die, he heard engine noises. He started wading through the ship’s cabin, trying to climb out, and eventually saw the divers.
After being rescued, Okene was taken to a rescue boat, warmed up, and then brought to shore. Harrison Odjegba Okene’s story is not only a miraculous example of survival but also a testament to the courage and skill of divers in extremely challenging situations.
