Despite the trauma of being the sole survivor, Harrison eventually faced his fear of the water. In 2015, he became a professional diver himself, trained by the very team that had rescued him from his "underwater tomb".
The story of Harrison Okene is a harrowing true account of survival against impossible odds. In May 2013, the tugboat capsized off the coast of Nigeria during rough seas, sinking to the ocean floor nearly 100 feet (30 meters) below the surface. The Descent and Survival Harrison - Underwater
: While searching the murky rooms, a diver was startled when a hand reached out from the darkness and grabbed his arm. Despite the trauma of being the sole survivor,
Harrison, the ship's 29-year-old cook, was in the bathroom when the vessel flipped. As the boat settled upside down on the seabed, he managed to navigate through the pitch-black, rising water until he found a small air pocket in an officer's cabin. In May 2013, the tugboat capsized off the
: Because Harrison had been at that depth for so long, his body had become "saturated" with pressurized gases. Bringing him to the surface too quickly would have been fatal, so he had to be transferred to a diving bell and then spend another 60 hours in a decompression chamber. Life After the Depths