Man survived 2 days under sea after shipwreck

WOW!! No double WOW WOW!! The human desire to live is possibly the strongest desire we have. This was the most awesome thing I have watched in a very long time. It just shows, if it's not your time to to die, you dont. The human spirit is damn awesome. Can't even imagine the feeling of those divers, and the raw emotion in that rescue. Remarkable to say the least.

Tucket
reply to post by trollz

 

The cook survived?! That's awesome.. But I have to wonder, was he really just a cook?

Ha ha,

your reply was exactly what I was thinking Tucket...

PDUK

BuzzCory
Wow! Luckily, Mr Okene didn't decide he had nothing to lose by trying to find his way out through the dark, topsy-turvy, water-filled ship. In this case, staying put was the right decision, although he couldn't have known that, I suppose.

I'll bet it took him a good long moment to realize that the diver who grabbed his foot & surfaced near him was real! Great story & awesome video, thanks for sharing it!

If he tried to escape couldn't he have navigated "up" by the fact it must be the direction of his head (since the water would sit lower)? I know he couldn't see the signs (upside down) so that option was out but if you really had to get out of that how would you orient after moving through some passageways with water? I imagine you would just start floating up but I don't know what it's like at those depths. Would probably drown before reaching the surface.

Great story, This guy actually won the Nigerian lotto and got to live another day.

5:20 is right before the diver yells Jesus C%#%, lol

for those who can't see the video

reply to post by Gemwolf

The only survival lesson I can think of is identifying spots where airpockets are likely to form. If there is no real way to do that then it's just luck.

Yea I looked up how one would survive and in this situation it would be luck. Otherwise your supposed to remain calm, know your exists - where floating devices are located, and have a go kit incase you have to abandon ship. This water must have been fairly warm (70-80), to keep him from hypothermia (of course he said he sat on mattresses).

I love the sense of humor of the rescuers - as one replies on video link site

"What is your rank?" "I'm the cook for the ship." "You're the cook?" "Yes sir." "...They always survive."

On a sadder note - In reading those comments I was reminded of the Pearl Harbor sailors trapped - tapping on the ship in hope of rescue. That story is beyond haunting, and I wonder if they would be able to get to them today if the same thing were to happen. Heart wrenching.

reply to post by Murgatroid


I've been watching your posts. I like your replies. Faith-filled and earnest, yet unassuming. Keep it up, the Truth is important.

Dianec

BuzzCory
Wow! Luckily, Mr Okene didn't decide he had nothing to lose by trying to find his way out through the dark, topsy-turvy, water-filled ship. In this case, staying put was the right decision, although he couldn't have known that, I suppose.

I'll bet it took him a good long moment to realize that the diver who grabbed his foot & surfaced near him was real! Great story & awesome video, thanks for sharing it!

If he tried to escape couldn't he have navigated "up" by the fact it must be the direction of his head (since the water would sit lower)? I know he couldn't see the signs (upside down) so that option was out but if you really had to get out of that how would you orient after moving through some passageways with water? I imagine you would just start floating up but I don't know what it's like at those depths. Would probably drown before reaching the surface.

I would imagine that all you could do would be to use what you could see of the area you were trapped in to try to determine the orientation of the boat (on its side, upside down, etc). Then you would have one precious breath before swimming out of the air bubble, into the dark, relying on your familiarity with the boat's corridors, adjusted for whatever position you knew the boat to be in on the bottom.

I'm not sure "up" would play a large part in things until you could actually exit the boat. If the boat was upside-down, you would need to swim down a ladder to an upper deck, not up; bends in a corridor would be reversed, or even up or down if the boat was on its side. You would probably be disoriented in short order.
While we can think our way into his situation, it would be very different with that one last breath of air quickly running out of usefulness.

I'm not even sure it would be possible to know immediately when you had exited the boat, assuming that it was deep enough that daylight was not reaching it, in the event that you were trying to escape during daylight hours.
What I would probably do is to hold out in hope of rescue until the air seemed to be getting thinner, & then making a swim for it, having not much to lose at that point.
Well, Your post inspired an interesting exercise in imagination, but I need to stop before I creep myself out any further than I already have!

Awesome man... that had to be a gruesome 72hrs, in complete darkness just waiting for death or a rescue...luckily this guy got the latter

If he'd gotten out he'd have drowned because he'd have been bobbing about in an empty ocean with nothing to keep him afloat, so in this case, escape would have meant death!

Man!

That was amazing stuff indeed. Far out, the rescue diver would've crapped himself when the cook first grabbed him!!

It was a gripping video...

Very sad for the rest of the crew but amazing that they were able to at least rescue one person. Poor bugger, must've been awful sitting there all that time not knowing if anyone was coming...

S+F.

He had a couple days to contemplate. What do you do? I think if he had tried to swim out he'd either die attempting it or would die with nothing to keep floating.

It says the ship sunk 240 feet??? He had to decompress before coming out. I say there's no other way he could have survived than this way!

I just can't believe he survived that. Harrowing. Ugg.

That is amazing he was able to survive that long. Not that many people would have the physical or mental endurance to make it through that situation. I doubt this man ever sets foot on a boat again.



This comment from the video is hilarious though!

Wait a second! A Barrister Harrison Okene sent me an email telling me he had $10 million but was unable to access the money seeing as how he was presently buried at sea. Sounded fishy, but as he requested, I wired him $2,000 as a good faith measure. I need to talk to him as soon as possible. I will wire an additional $10,000 but then I'm gonna need some more proof.

Wow this was the most exciting video I've ever seen with the music at the end it felt like the game hidden and dangerous. .. yihaa mission accomplished ....

Good work rescuing that guy I give a flag for the OP and five stars for the saviors. .

Absolutely amazing. Good for him. I bet he scared the bejeezus out of the diver.

reply to post by daskakik


Apparently, splashing around the water inadvertently increased his chances. The splashing increased the surface area of the water, so the CO2 was able to dissipate a little better. The fact that the ship was under 100 feet of water meant that the oxygen was pressurized (more oxygen). Also, he built himself up on mattresses to stay warm.
Source: Live Science

Great video! Very inspirational. If he can survive underwater, I can survive commuting to work.

reply to post by trollz


My family and I have all seen this today and been connecting on just how cool this story is in several ways. For one thing to have the hand reach out and touch the recovery member (who imo did an Exceptional job) would have been one heck of a shock to say the least. And that he survived for 2 days on just small sips of coke is a real eye opener for the coca cola corp who have taken a beating these past several years over the unhealthy effects of too much cola consumption.

I really wish that coke would grant this amazing and beautiful survivor a million dollars or more and change his life forever.

I loved this story and totally empathize with the journey he faces on his healing process. I wish him only the best.

reply to post by BuzzCory


I think that's a good idea - wait until there is no choice and you have to swim out. But you would need to bust a window or something (couldn't but only thing I can think of), because your right - you would be so disoriented you would run out of breath before even getting out. Then you would have to bring a floatation device along for when getting to the surface. Maybe a few trips to and from to get your bearings so the final run would be a quick out.

Sadly though - he would be so ill from decompression sickness (zero training) he wouldn't survive probably. I'm not a scuba diver but that's my guess. I would still try though. That would be a horrendous choice to have to make. Congrats to this brave guy for making it out sane.

I dont mean to be rude but it looks like he ate his other crew members looking at the size of him

reply to post by mlifeoutthere


If you compare that picture to his present one he was thinner on that tugboat (you can see it in his face). He is just a big guy (lots of muscle). He only went two days without food so he isn't going to be a skeleton. He did hear his mates being eaten though - by fish. So try to not have nightmares about that for the rest of your life. I'm sure he will.