Updated: December 20, 2013 (Originally published December 2, 2013)
Jascon 4 tug. Image: West African Ventures
On May 26, 2013, the Jascon 4 tugboat sank to a depth of 30 meters after capsizing off the coast of Nigeria, killing 11 of 12 crewmembers onboard. Miraculously, a saturation diving team with DCN Global exploring the vessel more than two days after its sinking discovered the lone survivor, the vessel’s cook, Mr. Okene Harrison, who was tucked into a tiny air bubble of the ship.
Now, a new video has surfaced from a helmet cam of one of the divers showing the man’s amazing discovery and rescue. At a about the 5:00 minute mark, the diver begins to make his way towards the compartment of the ship where the team eventually found Harrison alive, to everyone’s amazement. Check it out:
“The fact this person survived is incredible,’ commented former US Navy Salvage Officer Patrick Keenan shortly following the rescue. “After spending two days at 30 meters of depth, he had become saturated, meaning his body had absorbed all the pressurized gases and equalized with the surrounding water pressure. Bringing him to surface from that depth, and after having been saturated at 3 or 4 atmospheres, could easily have killed him.”
Paul McDonald, one of the Dynamic Positioning Officers on board the Dive Support Vessel that was involved with the recovery and rescue mission, explained to gCaptain back in May how Harrison was brought to the surface:
“All on board could not believe how cool he was when being rescued. The divers put a diving helmet and harness onto him and he followed the diver to the bell were he was then taken to deck level and kept in the chamber and decompressed for 2 days. It was amazing to be part of this rescue and my sympathy is with the families who lost there love ones.”
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