Harrison Ogjegba Okene miraculously survived a shipwreck with a bottle of carbonated soft drink and an air chamber left over from the disaster.

In one of the most incredible stories of underwater survival ever recorded, a man survived nearly three days trapped inside a sunken ship at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

On the morning of May 26, 2013, the Jascon-4 capsized due to strong seas in the Atlantic Ocean. The ship’s location was 30km off the coast of Nigeria, when it was anchored at a Chevron oil rig.

At the time of the incident, chef Harrison Okene (then 29 years old) was trapped in a 4m2 toilet and sank to the bottom of the sea with the ship.

Most of the other 11 members of the crew are locked in their cabins, a necessary precaution as pirates regularly rob and kidnap ships in the area. However, it was that safety measure that decided the fate of the sailors.

In the darkness before dawn, Okene is swept out of the bathroom wearing only shorts. “I was stunned, it was dark all around, and I was thrown from one end of the little room to the other,” Okene told The Nation.

However, Okene was much luckier than his companions on board. When the accident occurred, none of the rest of the crew were lucky enough to survive in the locked cabin.

Okene finally managed to move to the engine room and found a small airbag. At this time, the ship was lying face down on the seabed, at a depth of about 30 meters. Almost naked, with no food or water to drink in a cold and damp room with a depleting oxygen supply, the 29-year-old’s chances of survival seemed to be nil.

“I could feel the bodies of sailors nearby. I could smell it. The fish swim in and start eating the corpses. I could hear that horrible sound,” Okene recalled in shock.

Thanks to a series of strange coincidences and incredible luck, Okene survived. In addition to the small airbag, Okene also found a Coca-Cola bottle and a life jacket with two small flashlights attached.

Okene when it was found by divers

Okene estimates that his airbag is only about 1.2 meters tall, while humans usually inhale about 10 cubic meters of gas per day. However, according to physicist and diver Maxim Umansky of the Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), because Okene is under pressure at the bottom of the ocean, his airbag is compressed about four times over.

Umansky said that if the compressed air bag had a volume of about 6 cubic meters, it would contain enough oxygen to supply Okene for about 2.5 days, or 60 hours. However, another danger still exists is CO2, which can kill people at concentrations of about 5 percent.

As Okene inhales oxygen and exhales CO2, the concentration of this gas slowly builds up in his tiny air sac. However, CO2 is also absorbed by water, and by splashing water inside the air sac, Okene inadvertently increases the surface area of the water, which increases the absorption of CO2 and keeps the concentration of this gas below the lethal level of 5%.

Another risk for Okene is hypothermia. If the body temperature is excessively lowered, humans can die. However, luck happened to Okene. This chef created a small platform, which helped him rise out of the water. Otherwise, he would have died within a few hours from exposure to cold sea water.

On the afternoon of May 28, Okene heard the sound of a hammer hitting the ship. He tried to make a noise and hoped someone heard it. Okene saw light from a flashlight of someone swimming along the passage through the room.

“He swam in so fast, I saw the light but before I could swim to him, the diver had already turned around. I tried to chase him in the dark water but couldn’t follow him, so I had to turn back.” At this time, divers from a Dutch company were trying to retrieve the bodies of the ill-fated sailors, they found four people before encountering Mr. Okene.

When the diver returned, Okene tried to swim over to ask for help. “I tapped him in the neck so he was obviously scared.” When the diver saw Okene’s hand, he reported to the boat on the water that there was a dead body there.

“When he reached out to me, I pulled his hand,” Okene recalled of his moment of extreme joy and perhaps the first startle in the diver’s life.

Chef Okene is psychologically obsessed after the shipwreck disaster

Mr. Okene led the diver to where he had survived for the past three days. “I knew very well that when he handed me the water, he looked closely to see if I was a person, obviously he was too scared,” Harrison Okene said.

Soon after, the team of divers equipped Okene with an oxygen mask, wetsuit and helmet. He came to the surface at 7:32 p.m., more than 60 hours after the ship sank.

Due to being soaked in water for too long, some parts of his skin peeled off. Okene took another 60 hours in a compression chamber for his body pressure to gradually return to normal levels. Because if he was immediately exposed to the outside air, he could die suddenly.

Okene thinks he has had a “miracle” but time in the dark still haunts him and he may not go to the beach again.

“Sometimes, at home I have the feeling that the bed I was sleeping in was sinking. And I was stuck in the sea again. I don’t know what kept the water from filling that room. Maybe God saved me.”

After the unforgettable event, Okene wanted to send a message to anyone who is struggling to survive: “Fear alone can kill you. I let go of my fears and thought that what needed to come would come. Believe in yourself and hold fast to your faith and spirit.”