Harrison Odjegba Okene of Nigeria was working as a cook on
the Tugboat Jascon when a heavy swell caused the vessel to capsize and his boat
sank to the sea bed 100 feet below in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Okene's
ordeal began around 4:30 a.m. on May 26. He was in the bathroom when the tug,
one of three towing an oil tanker off the coast of Nigeria, gave a sudden lurch
and then keeled over.
"I was dazed and everywhere was dark as I was
thrown from one end of the small cubicle to another," Okene told Nigeria's
Nation newspaper. He groped his way out of the bathroom and eventually entered
a cabin of the sunken vessel that felt safe. Then he began to wait and he
prayed to be rescued.
He had no idea about the well-being of his fellow
crew members - 10 Nigerians and the Ukrainian captain. Sadly, these all died in
the ordeal. As Okene waited and the cold waters began to rise in the cabin, he
thought about his wife, his extended family, and his friends. He also recited
the last psalm his wife had sent by text message, sometimes called the Prayer
for Deliverance, which begins with the plea: " Save me, O God, by your name"
(Psalm 54).
"Surely God is my help;
The Lord is the one who sustains
me."
- Psalm 54:4
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