A Wave, an Upside-Down World, and a Locked Hatch
On the morning of May 26, 2013, Harrison Okene, a 29-year-old cook on the Jascon-4 tugboat, was using the bathroom when a massive wave struck the vessel off the Nigerian coast. The ship capsized and plunged 30 meters (100 feet) to the ocean floor.
The lights went out, the bathroom flooded, and Okene, bleeding from a head wound, found himself trapped in total darkness, the room inverted around him. Struggling to escape, he swam into pitch-black corridors, disoriented by the boat’s overturned position.
A Pocket of Air and a Flicker of Hope
Swept by water into another bathroom, Okene found himself in a small air pocket within the second engineer’s cabin. The sealed cabin doors, usually kept shut due to piracy concerns, had trapped enough air to keep the room partially unflooded.
Clinging to the underside of a washbasin, now above his head, he could hear the cries of his crewmates. As their voices faded, he used broken metal from a vent to pry open a door. Inside the cabin, he found lifejackets with torches and fashioned a rope from clothing to navigate safely between his air pocket and the submerged corridors.
Saltwater, Sardines, and Crayfish
For sustenance, Okene found a tin of sardines and a can of cola. He drank seawater when necessary, which inflamed his throat, and endured constant bites from crayfish. In the cold, rising water, he constructed a raft from broken wood panels to stay above the waterline.
He attempted multiple swims to the watertight hatch but could not open it. Each trip threatened disorientation and drowning in the flooded maze of the ship.
A Glimpse of Light and Rescue
Nearly 60 hours after the sinking, Okene noticed a faint disturbance in the water—a diver’s light. A rescue team marking the wreck was unaware anyone could still be alive. When Okene reached out, the diver initially thought he was a corpse until Okene’s hand grabbed his. Rescuers brought him to a pressurized diving bell, then a decompression chamber where he remained for three days.
Okene had no idea nearly three days had passed. Released with normal vital signs, he eventually became a certified diver himself. Today, he works on underwater oil and gas projects and lives with his partner and children, often diving to depths greater than the one where he survived.
Harrison Okene was in the bathroom of the Jascon-4 tugboat when it capsized off Nigeria in 2013.
Trapped 100 feet underwater, in total darkness, he began a 60-hour ordeal.
With rising water and no way out, he had no idea anyone would find him alive…🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/tFkdvIj3yI
— Detective Tiger's Stories (@TigerDetective) June 28, 2025