Video shows rescue of man trapped underwater for 3 days

Dramatic video shows the rescue of a Nigerian chef who spent nearly three days underwater in May when his tugboat capsized.

Harrison Okene, a 29-year-old chef for an oil company, was the only survivor when the Jacson-4 overturned during a storm 12 miles off the coast of Nigeria. Eleven crew members died in the accident and the boat sank, according to the BBC.

Okene spoke to the Guardian about the ordeal in June. He said he was unable to reach the emergency exit as the water swept him into a bathroom, where a 4-square-foot air bubble was the only thing between him and death.

The chef survived on Coca-Cola, he said. After 60 hours, he heard a hammering on the boat’s deck and hammered back.

The newly released video shows a South African diver slowly approaching Okene, who at that point had so much nitrogen in his system that it would have been potentially fatal to immediately take him to land.

The diver exclaims, “He’s alive! He’s alive!” when he sees Okene.

“Just reassure him,” says the diver’s colleague above water. “Just reassure him. Pat him on the shoulder.”

Okene was put into a diver’s suit and oxygen mask and taken above water, where he spent two days in a decompression chamber, according to the Guardian.

Watch the entire 14-minute video below.

Contact Stephanie Grimes at sgrimes@reviewjournal.com. Find her on Twitter: @steph_grimes