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Tag: survivor

  • Okwuchi, Sosoliso crash survivor, visits SPDC

    Okwuchi, Sosoliso crash survivor, visits SPDC

    It was an emotional moment when Miss Kechi Okwuchi, a survivor of the 2005 Sosoliso plane crash that claimed many lives, visited the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) to express gratitude for the financial assistance the company gave her after the  incident.

    Kechi, her father’s friend, Mazi Victor Okoronkwo and her aunty, Mrs. Uloma Umeano, were received by Mr. Osagie Okunbor, Managing Director, SPDC and Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria.

    Kechi, who was returning from school in Abuja to Port Harcourt, survived the crash but suffered third-degree burns. When her plight came to the notice of SPDC, the company  stepped in and ensured that she was flown to South Africa for treatment.

    She was later moved to the United States for more treatment.

    Kechi’s father, Mr. Okwuchi, in a letter read by Mazi Okoronkwo, said: “On December 10, 2005, Shell intervened, notwithstanding the medical uncertainty to save life regardless of cost; intervention propelled by a corporate policy that puts life above else. We thank and applaud you for it.’’

    Kechi added: “I am incredibly grateful and I walk through every day of my life knowing that I am here because of the amount of effort SPDC put into making sure that I stayed alive … you came when all looked dark and you shone a light of hope into my life.”

    She said her family would remain grateful to SPDC for ensuring that she received the best medical care available. ‘’I have never seen this kind of kindness from a corporation before,’ she added.

    Kechi also presented a certificate of recognition from the Shriners Hospitals for Children (Galveston, Texas) to SPDC for its thoughtful and generous contribution to the hospital.

    Okunbor said: “It was instinctive for us as an organisation to react the way we did as the most important thing for us then was to save and preserve lives. Even though we were not directly involved, the leadership decided that we had to intervene and do all we could as a company to help and today, I am happy we did.”

  • Ogun discharges Lassa fever survivor

    Ogun State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Babatunde Ipaye, has said the 20-year-old boy diagnosed with Lassa fever has been discharged from the isolation centre at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) at Idi-Aba in Abeokuta, the state capital.

    Ipaye, who addressing reporters at the centre in Abeokuta, said the boy was brought into the state hospital at Ijaye and was transferred to the isolation centre at FMC at Idi-Aba.

    The commissioner said the boy was taken to the centre with complications, adding that he had 20 per cent chances of survival because he had serious renal complication, which could have led to his death.

    He said: “Having being successfully treated and fully recovered from the disease, with results of the last two tests carried out, indicating negative, the boy was free to go home and join his family.”

    Ipaye stressed the need for continuous monitoring of the 106 persons currently being quarantined for having contacts with suspected patients.

    The commissioner said the state’s Department of Public Health would continue to monitor and guide against any likely infections.

  • Charly Boy to support cancer survivor, Atinuke Lawal on ‘Let’s Kill It’ walk

    Charly Boy to support cancer survivor, Atinuke Lawal on ‘Let’s Kill It’ walk

    As part of activities to mark 2017 World Cancer Day, an NGO, ‘Let’s Kill It’, is planning a fitness walk campaign against the disease. The event which takes place on Saturday, February 4, is expected to kick-off by 9am at Broad Street, Marina, Lagos.

    Conveners say shortly before the walk, there will be a health check session between 7:30am and 8:30am, to be followed by slow tempo aerobics dance between 8:30am and 9:00am.

    Also joining the walk is musician, producer and activist, Charly Boy, whose friend, Tina Onwudiwe, was one of the first Nigerians to publicly seek support for cancer. “We need to fight that fight to a standstill,” Charly Boy said.

    Founder of ‘Let’s Kill It’, Atinuke Lawal Sanusi, said she is passionate about the campaign, having had a path with cancer.

    Atinuke, a film editor and mother of two who was diagnosed with cancer in 2014 but started treatment in 2016 said she was fortunate the cancer didn’t spread.

    “It started with chemotherapy and after that, it went to radiotherapy,” said Atinuke who documented her treatment and discovered that most patients’ inability to raise cost of treatment was responsible for the high mortality rate from cancer.

    “We only have one radiotherapy machine in the whole of Nigeria which is supposed to be serving over 170 million people if anything happens. We used to have eight but seven are not functioning as we speak.

    “I believe that with the right support from the right organisations, government and philanthropists, we can put these things in place and make life easier for everybody. Cancer is a scourge all over the world and lots of other countries are prepared to fight it. Nigeria is the least prepared to fight cancer. Our doctors are really trying but unfortunately, there is nothing for them to work with. After going through all that and with the grace that God gave to me to survive, I couldn’t keep quiet.”

  • From Ebola survivor to motherhood

    From Ebola survivor to motherhood

    OYEYEMI GBENGA-MUSTAPHA and WALE ADEPOJU write on how Ebola survivor Dr Ada Igonoh weathered the storm to become a mother.

    Female Ebola survivors rarely get pregnant and when they do, many do not carry it to term. So far, only two women in Africa are known to have given birth after recovering from Ebola Haemorrhagic Fever (EHF). They are Sierra Leone’s first Ebola survivor Victoria Yillia and Nigeria’s Dr Ada Igonoh, who was delivered of a baby girl in the United States (US) two weeks ago.

    Mrs  Igonoh of the First Consultant Medical Centre (FCMC), Lagos, became infected with Ebola last year during the treatment of the index case, Liberian Patrick Sawyer, who died about two weeks after coming down with the deadly virus. The birth of Igonoh’s baby is being celebrated because it is a rare medical feat. Reason: Expectant mothers with active Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) and expectant mothers who survive EVD without pregnancy loss, according to World Health Organisation (WHO), may transmit the virus during delivery and/or management of obstetric complications.

    Although WHO claries that there is no evidence to show that women who survive (EVD) and subsequently become pregnant pose a risk for EVD transmission.

    It was for the fear of Mrs Igonoh’s and her baby’s health that extreme precautions were taken to manage her pregnancy.

    FCMC Chief Medical Director (CMD) Dr Benjamin Ohiaeri said being the first Post- Ebola survivor to become pregnant in Nigeria, “we could not afford to take chances with her while pregnant and at delivery. This is because when you survive Ebola it is difficult to get pregnant, and if pregnant, it is difficult to carry the pregnancy, and much difficult to deliver the pregnancy. Ada carried the pregnancy well. She made us proud, as a nation”. Statistics show that such fears may not be misplaced.

    Fifteen (14 percent) of 105 women with Ebola haemorrhagic fever hospitalised in the isolation unit of the Kikwit General Hospital in Democratic Republic of  Congo were pregnant. In 10 women (66 percent), the pregnancy ended with an abortion. In three of them, curettage was performed, and they received blood transfusion from an apparently healthy person. Curettage is to remove tissue by scraping or scooping. One woman was prematurely delivered of a stillbirth. Four expectant mothers died during the third trimester of their pregnancy. The women bled severely. Only one survived; she had curettage because of an incomplete abortion after eight months of amenorrhea. The mortality rate of expectant mothers with Ebola Haemorrhagic fever (95.5 percent) was slightly but not significantly higher than the overall mortality observed during the Ebola epidemic in Kikwit (77 percent; 245/316 infected persons).

    Dr Ohiaeri said: “There are so many tests she undergone that couldn’t have been done in the country. We hypothetically assumed so many things and that is how we work as medics, so we could not afford her some chances. She is a first of First. Best decision was the America. Dr. Igonoh is the only female medical doctor to have survived the deadly disease and gotten pregnant. Since her conception, she has been placed under medical surveillance to ensure that her child is Ebola-Free. The baby, upon birth, has been certified Ebola-free. The baby girl weighs Nine pounds One ounce. Everything about the baby is normal because all tests carried out on it came back negative. Vanderbelt University Medical Centre did the tests.”

    According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) there is no evidence that women who become pregnant after recovery from EVD are at risk of EVD transmission.  But it recommends Standard obstetric infection prevention and control (IPC) precautions that should be used when exposure to bodily fluids is possible during childbirth and/or management of complications.

    Yillia, the first survivor to have a child, lost 21 relatives to Ebola. She gave birth to a healthy 6lb, 3oz (2.8kg) baby boy with no complications.

    EVD in pregnancy is associated with a high rate of obstetric complications and poor maternal and perinatal outcomes, including spontaneous abortion, prelabour rupture of membranes, preterm labour/preterm birth, antepartum and postpartum haemorrhage, intrauterine fetal death, stillbirth, maternal death and neonatal death. Although rare, some pregnant women with EVD have recovered without loss of pregnancy. Evidence has shown that intrauterine contents remain PCR positive for Ebola virus RNA. There are no reports of survival beyond the neonatal period.

    WHO has Guidance on the clinical management of pregnant women with EVD it has as well a document that provides guidance for the screening, triage, and application of infection prevention and control (IPC) during pregnancy and childbirth care in the context of an outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD), but it maintains that the diagnosis of EVD during pregnancy can be challenging due to overlapping symptoms such as nausea and fatigue, and potentially atypical presentation such as delayed onset of fever. Rigorous screening for EVD exposure during pregnancy is essential in areas of Ebola virus transmission. Ebola IPC (infection prevention and control (IPC)) precautions must be stringently applied when providing obstetric care to pregnant women and newborns that are known or suspected to be at risk of EVD transmission.

    Dr Ohiaeri said the Association of Nigerian Physicians in America (ANPA) facilitated Dr Igonoh’s transfer to the US and the delivery was done by Dr Julius Kpaduwa, an Obstetician-Gynaecologist in El monte, California, while Dr Stella Kpaduwa, a paediatrician attended to the baby. “It is a feat for Nigeria as a nation that Ada was delivered by Nigerian-Americans. Many stakeholders were in the delivery room with her-WHO team, CDC team, Global Affairs team, and US Government representatives, the CEO of the hospital where she delivered.

    The husband, Mr Godwin Igonoh said mother and child are not expected back in the country soon as, “there is need for the duo to bond and it is satisfactory to the stakeholders to allow them come back. Once they arrive, there will be celebration and all will be invited.”

    WHO declared Nigeria Ebola-free on October 20, 2014. The organisation said there had been 28,607 cases of EVD and 11,314 deaths as at November 1, this year. It said a year ago, the West African Ebola outbreak was generating so many new cases, and spread to other countries that the world was terrified. Many feared that the Ebola virus was the pathogen that would overwhelm humanity.

    In an abstract published by  the Infectious Diseases Society of America during the Ebola Haemorrhagic Fever (EHF) epidemic in Kikwit, only a small number of women were pregnant, which contrasts with the epidemic in the neighbouring Yambuku, DRC, where 82 (46per cent) of 177 infected women were. Of the 202 EHF patients hospitalised at the Kikwit General Hospital, 105 were women, and 15 (14percent) of them were or had been pregnant during their illness. In 10 women (67percent), the pregnancy ended with an abortion. In three of them a curettage was done

    Spontaneous abortion is frequent in pregnant women with EHF. A high frequency of abortion has also been observed during infection with other hemorrhagic fevers, such as Lassa fever.  During the epidemic in Yambuku in 1976, 19 abortions (23%) among 82 pregnant women with EHF were reported.

    There are several factors that may explain the high incidence of abortions: pyrexia, intravascular coagulopathy, and EBO infection in fetuses of EBO-infected women. In Yambuku, a large number of pregnant women became infected with EBO because they had received vitamin injections with contaminated needles and syringes. Injections played only a minor role or no role at all in the Kikwit epidemic.

    Several infectious diseases, such as malaria, hepatitis, varicella zoster, polio, tuberculosis, and Lassa fever, have been reported to be more severe in pregnant than non pregnant women. Results for the small series of EBO-infected pregnant women in the current study suggest that EBO may also be more severe in pregnant women. More EBO-infected pregnant women presented with serious complications, such as hemorrhagic manifestations and neurologic complications, than did other EBO patients.

    A clinical diagnosis of hemorrhagic fever in a pregnant woman is complicated because pregnant women may bleed for other reasons, such as abortion unrelated to EHF or a placenta previa. During an EBO epidemic, every pregnant woman with genital bleeding should be considered as a suspected case of EHF.

    Pregnant women with EHF may present with severe genital bleeding and may need a blood transfusion or curettage (or both). Therefore, health care workers caring for these women have a particularly high risk of acquiring EHF if they do not apply barrier nursing techniques. This includes wearing double gloves, a plastic or rubber apron over a long sleeve gown, a mask, and a full face protector (if available) or protective glasses for personal protection. Moreover, linens, instruments, bedding, and floors that have been soiled with blood or other body fluids should be disinfected with sodium hypochlorite. The application of universal precautions and barrier nursing techniques is not only of particular importance in maternity units in Africa to protect health care workers against EBO infection but also against other infections that are transmissible by blood, such as HIV and hepatitis.

    Now, one year later that terror has been replaced by confidence that strong leadership, adaptation of the response to cultures and environments and innovation have turned the tide. Liberia has interrupted transmission and Sierra Leone is close to achieving that milestone. Guinea is still recording cases but in low numbers.

    At her address to the Regional Committee for Europe, Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General, says the Ebola outbreak is not yet over, “but we are very close. We are in a phase where we can track the last chains of transmission, and break them. To get to this phase, WHO deployed more than 1000 staff to 68 field sites in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

    Due to the Ebola outbreak, many countries closed their borders. But as of now, the following travel notices have been updated: Ebola in Sierra Leone (downgraded to Level 2, Alert, Practice enhanced precautions), Ebola in Guinea (updated to reflect change to Sierra Leone notice and Ebola in Liberia (updated to reflect change to Sierra Leone notice).

  • Explosion scene was gruesome, says survivor of P/Harcourt gas fire

    Following the death of four persons, including the shop owner, after an explosion which occurred inside a gas refilling shop, a lucky survivor, Mr. Antony Aguewo, has described the explosion as gruesome.

    The shop is located at Eliozu, near ABC Transport Company in Port Harcourt.

    Speaking with The Nation, Aguewo said: “I’m a new person here, and I don’t know the name of those who died. But the explosion happened few minutes after I left the place. As soon as I left the place, I heard a loud noise and when I turned back, I discovered that where I just left was on fire.

    “Two persons died on the spot, while another had his legs shattered. So many other people had varying degrees of injuries. When the police came, we assisted them to evacuate victims’ remains and those who need medical attention were taken to the Military Hospital and Braithwaite Specialist Memorial Hospital (BSMH).”

    The Rivers police Spokesman Muhammad Kidaya Ahmad, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), confirmed the death of four persons in the incident.

  • How I overcame breast cancer, by survivor

    How I overcame breast cancer, by survivor

    A woman who survived breast cancer has spoken of how she overcame the ailment and how the disease could be defeated.

    Mrs Betty Akeredolu who was diagnosed of breast cancer in 1997 said access to the right information coupled with the advancement in medical science has helped her to successfully fight the disease.

    Speaking in Lagos last Wednesday at a lecture to mark World Cancer Day, Mrs Akeredolu, who is the founder of Breast Cancer Association of Nigeria (BRECAN) said the global efforts to stop the spread of cancer may end up as a mirage if people do not share the right information on the disease and government failed to bring down the cost of treatment.

    The lecture which was the inaugural edition of the Omolara Jolaoso Memorial Lecture with the theme: Breast Cancer and Lifestyle, held at the Maryland Comprehensive Secondary School in Ikeja, and was organised by LANDER 88, an Old Students’ Association of the school to celebrate the life and times of the late Ms Jolaoso, who died on December 2013 after she lost the battle against breast cancer. The honoree was the convener of the association before she died.

    Mrs Akeredolu, who has survived breast cancer for 17 years and still getting stronger, said the disease could be defeated if people volunteer information about their health challenges and go for regular medical check for early detection.

    The wife of the frontline lawyer, Chief Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, said recent researches on breast cancer showed solution was within the reach, stressing that the growing cases of cancer had necessitated the need for specialist hospitals in the country to diagnose and treat patients at low cost.

    She said: “When I was diagnosed of breast cancer in 1997, I did not know anyone with such disease at that time. I felt it was the end but medical research has improved over the years. From the outcome we are getting, it shows solution is within our reach. I am standing here today to tell you that we can beat breast cancer.

    “But people must know that sharing information is key to beating breast cancer. Women must go out for regular medical checkup. This way, we can stop the cancer at the early stage. But many complain about lack of specialist hospital and expensive treatment. We want government to look into this to help poor victims and reduce foreign exchange (expended on overseas treatment).”

    The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr Jide Idris, noted that researches showed that the best way to prevent cancer is to perform physical exercise and eat low calorie diet, containing fibre, fruits and vegetables. He said sedentary lifestyle, intake of animal and exposure to tobacco products increase vulnerability to cancer.

    Idris, who was represented by Dr Olajumoke Oyenuga at the event, said the state government had been offering free screening for women on cancer, noting that there was need for individuals and corporate bodies to complement the efforts of the government in extending the free service to more people.

    He said: “It is a known fact that no one is immune to breast cancer. Therefore, early detection through intensive and sustained public enlightenment, education and regular screening is the key to a favourable outcome. The risk factors of the disease include increasing age and early menarche, late menopause, and genetic predisposition.”

    The Commissioner urged women to always conduct Breast Self-Examination (BSE), go for Clinical Breast Examination (CBE) and periodically engaged in mammogram after the age of 40 to reduce the burden of the disease.

    The Special Adviser on Education to Lagos Governor, Hon. Fatai Olukoga, said cancer was not incurable, stressing that massive public enlightenment must be sustained to reduce the growing cases. “For cancer to be stopped, we must tackle the challenge of ignorance among the people, he said.

    Other speakers at the event included Dr Olufemi Ladehinde, Chief Executive Officer of Rencare Limited and Dr Biodun Adeyanju, a consultant surgeon at the Federal Medical Centre in Ebute-Metta, Lagos.

    The event ended with an interactive session with pupils of the school and the guests.

    The late Omolara’s brother, Mr Abdulrasaq Sowunmi, said the event was to inform the people to take adequate measure against cancer. On how the family had been coping after the Omolara’s death, he said: “As a Muslim family, we have accepted it as the will of God. There is nothing anybody can do to it. God giveth and taketh. But life goes on.”

  • Associated Aviation crash survivor seeks help 10 months after

    Associated Aviation crash survivor seeks help 10 months after

    Ten months after an Embrear 130 aircraft belonging to Associated Aviation crashed near the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos, one of the surviving cabin attendants, Ms Oluwatoyin Yemisi Samson, yesterday accused the airline’s management of neglect.

    The former cabin attendant said she had been suffering since the October 3, 2013 crash.

    She accused the airline of insensitivity to her plight, adding that the airline had failed to pay her compensation, as spelt out in the Montreal Convention of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

    The former airline worker narrated her experience at the second memorial lecture of the former Director-General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the late Engineer Zakari Haruna.

    Samson said she brought up her matter to the public because she was disenchanted by the inhuman treatment meted out to her by the airline.

    She urged the NCAA to call the airline to order adding that the injury she suffered in the crash would not enable her to secure another cabin attendant job again.

    According to her, the trauma she is grappling with is affecting her medical certification to secure a job in any airline.

    Samson said: “Because of the way the management of Associated Aviation neglected me after the crash, I can no longer fly. I am not medically fit.

    The psychological trauma I am suffering is now as a result of the crash. All these did not happen to me before the crash. I buy drugs and feed from hand to mouth, getting food from family members. I have become a shadow of my old self.

    “I was advised to go to court because I do not have anyone to fight for me. But I know God, who saved me from the crash will fight for me.

    “The airline neglected me. I am, therefore calling on the NCAA to intervene in this matter so that the airline can wake up to its responsibility to provide physiotherapy rehabilitation and appropriately compensate me…”

  • Robbery survivor builds parsonage

    Robbery survivor builds parsonage

    Twice he faced men of the underworld, and twice he survived. So what better way to say thank you to God than building a parsonage and handing it over to Him. That was exactly what Mr Aham Uko did.

    On the day of the dedication, Uko gathered his family and friends and they rejoiced in the grace of God. He built a parsonage for his local church in Nkwoegwu in Ohuhu clan of Umuahia North council area of Abia state to thank God for saving his life in two armed robbery attacks some years ago.

    Uko said he had every reason to thank God because surviving two armed attacks is not common.

    “It was obvious that my end was near, but God who is the giver of life said no, that it is not my time to die yet,” he said.

    He said that maybe God wanted him to be alive to teach him a lesson since he had not been paying his tithe in the church for many years. After calculating the tithe he decided to pay it by building the parsonage, and also to thank God for His numerous mercies for him and his entire family.

    Uko gave a testimony of all his travails in the church during the dedication and handing over of the building.

    “Two things prompted me to do something for the Lord,” he said. “In 2007, as a Regional Director of UBA, two vehicles, Prado Jeep and Honda Accord, were given to me by my employers.  I used the cars only on Sundays as I had other cars. One day, I was returning from the airport and stopped to do some shopping

    at Psychiatric Road in Port Harcourt. It was about 7 pm.

    “After shopping and I was about to enter the Jeep, two people standing around there held me up with AK-47 rifles and ordered me into the back seat with the one holding the gun to my head while the other took over the steering.

    “The driver asked me in Igbo language if the car will stop on the road. I then responded in Igbo, telling him, “My brother, how can such a car stop, that it was loaded with fuel.

    “When the car veered off Psychiatric Road, the one at the back with me, holding the gun, collected all I had on me, including cell phones, wristwatch and cash.

    “After that, the driver asked me what else was in the car, and I told him that there was N300,000 in the pigeonhole. He asked me what again, I told him that office computer was in the boot as well as a car DVD I wanted to install in my car.

    “After about five minutes, the driver told the one with the gun to allow me to go. The one with the gun said no, that they have to finish me off and asked the driver why I must be allowed to go.

    “An argument ensued between them and I pleaded with them that I am an only son. The driver started quarrelling with the one sitting with me and after about five minutes, he asked my companion to allow me to go, telling him that I was a gentleman. The man with me had bloodshot eyes.

    “After the argument, I told the driver in Igbo language not to argue with him. He then stopped and parked and a Hiace bus that had been moving before us stopped also.

    After a while he moved and the bus in front later stopped with a man in caftan coming towards us. It dawned on me that the men were four. The man in caftan consulted with the driver in a low tone, while I was praying to God silently and after about two minutes, he said “allow him to go”.

    “The one with me did not find this order comfortable. He ordered me to pull of my shoes, my shirt, trousers and pants before allowing me to go naked. The first person and the second one I saw ran way on sighting me as I shouted that I was not mad, but a victim of armed robbery.

    “A short man, fair in complexion, clad with a wrapper and clutching a bible in one hand, did not run away when he sighted me. I told him that I was not mad, but a victim of robbery.

    “The man said the place is dangerous and offered me the wrapper to tie around my waist, stating that he was going for a night vigil and had only N50 with him. He offered me his slippers, but my feet could not entre it. So I gave it back to him and walked barefoot. He then took me to his house and found one large shirt and trouser which couldn’t button well, as well as slippers.

    “The man searched his house and could only find N200 and which was not enough to transport me home. He said he will take me to the road and put me in a taxi that will take me home.

    “Once we reached the main road, the first taxi he flagged down stopped and was told what happened, and he offered to take me home free of charge.

    “On reaching home, after severe searching, I could not find a small piece of paper on which the man who helped me wrote his name. The cloth he gave me was dry-cleaned and is still in my wardrobe till now.

    The next day, I went to the exact spot I met him and traced our movement back to see him and return his clothes, but I could not find such a man or anyone who knew him, even after describing him.

    I made several attempts, going back and forth to locate the one room the man was living with rubber buckets at the front of the house. But each time I tried, I could not trace the house.

    The next thing that happened was when I was returning from somewhere when I met a checkpoint mounted by armed robbers and was lucky to escape because I had the glass of my car all locked.

    When I sought to reverse on sighting them, one of the robbers came from a nearby bush and pointed a gun on me, but God gave me the courage to drive away with reverse gear, not minding deep gutters that bounded the road and the robber did not shoot.

    I decided to complete the parsonage by re-designing and completing it after consulting with my wife. This started in 2012 with the belief

    that God would provide the resources after I challenged Him and He did.

    God reminded me that I had not been paying my tithes and after calculating it, it was enormous”.

  • Survivor will never go to the sea again

    Survivor will never go to the sea again

    THe survived three days in a sunken tugboat at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean and was hailed as a miracle survivor, but now the Nigerian faces nightmares and questions on whether he used black magic.

    Harrison Odjegba Okene, 29, has transformed his life since a diver fished him out of the sea. He never again wants to find himself in a boat galley, and has since started working as a cook on firm ground.

    Okene was the only survivor in a crew of 12 when the Jascon 4 capsized in May, and that still haunts him.

    He stayed alive by breathing from an ever-dwindling supply of oxygen in an air pocket of the tugboat. A video of Okene’s rescue in May was posted on the Internet more than six months later and has since gone viral.

    When recounting the rescue at his local parish, even the priest asked him if he had used black magic to survive.

    “I was so surprised! How could a man of God be saying this?” Okene said, his voice rising in disbelief.

    Okene spoke to The Associated Press at his modest two-bedroom apartment in the southern oil industry center of Warri, in his first interview with the international media since his ordeal.

    He didn’t go to the funerals of his colleagues because he feared their families’ reactions — Nigerians being generally very religious but also superstitious.

    “I couldn’t go because I didn’t know what the family will say, thinking ‘Why is he the only one to survive,’” said Okene.

    It’s a question that has shaken his steadfast faith. “Every week I ask (God) ‘Why only me? Why did my colleagues have to die?’”

    His rescuers from the Dutch company DCN Diving, were looking only for bodies and already had recovered four corpses when they came upon Okene.

    The chubby-faced cook by that time had almost given up hope, but then he heard the sound of a boat, a hammering on the side of the vessel and then, after a while, saw lights and the rising waters around him bubbling.

    He said he knew it had to be a diver, but he was on the wrong end of the cabin.

    “He came in but he was too fast, so I saw the light but before I could get to him, he was already out. I tried to follow him in the pitch darkness but I couldn’t trace him, so I went back.”

    When the diver returned, Okene had to swim through the dark waters to reach him and still he did not see him. “So I tapped him at the back of his neck, so he was afraid.” When the diver saw his hand he said “corpse, corpse, a corpse,” into his microphone, reporting up to the rescue vessel.

    “When he brought his hand close to me, I pulled on his hand,” Okene said of the moment that finally made the truth clear to his rescuer. “He’s alive! He’s alive! He’s alive!” he diver shouted.

    Still, the diver appeared to have a hard time believing he had survived, Okene said.

    “I knew when he gave me water he was observing me (to see) if I’m really human, because he was afraid.”

    On the video, there are expletives and exclamations of fear and shock from Okene’s rescuer, and then joy as the realization set in: There was a survivor.

    Until that moment, Okene believed his colleagues must have escaped. The tug was one of three towing a Chevron oil tanker in Nigeria’s oil-rich Delta waters, but on May 26 there was a sudden lurch and it keeled over.

    “I heard people shouting, I felt the vessel going down, going down, I heard a voice saying ‘Is this vessel sinking or what?’ … I was in the WC (toilet) and the WC fell on my head, things started falling on my head … My colleagues were shouting ‘God help me, God help me, God help me. Then after a while I never heard from them (again).”

    His wife Akpovona Okene, 27, said he still suffers nightmares. “When he is sleeping, he has that shock, he will just wake up in the night saying ‘Honey see, the bed is sinking, we are in the sea.”

    Okene said he made a pact with God when he was at the bottom of the ocean: “When I was under the water I told God: If you rescue me, I will never go back to the sea again, never.”

  • What the survivor told The Nation

    What the survivor told The Nation

    Harrison Okene recreated the event of May 26 in an interview with Shola O’Neil.  

    I was dazed and everywhere was dark as I was thrown from one end of the small cubicle to another. I made my way out of the toilet, groped through the dark into a place I imagined was the officers’ rest room. From there I moved to engineers’ office. I wasn’t seeing (anything), I was just feeling my way with my hands. I knew that if there is a vent, I would find a door, key and the knob. When I find a door, I try and get something (a stopper) to keep it open.

    “I saw a light vest with two lights. It showed me that that was a room. When I went to another room, I saw a draw with tools. I took out the lights (from the vest) and put them inside my boxers.

    “I prayed about a hundred times. When I was tired, I started calling on the name of God. I was just calling on His name for divine intervention. I started reminiscing on the verses I read before I slept. I read the Bible from Psalm 54 to 92. My wife had sent me the verses to read that night when she called me before I went to bed.

    “At that point I was very scared. I said: ‘So this is how I am going to die? What would happen to my wife? So, she will become a widow. I don’t even have a child yet. What about my mother and everybody I love? So I will never see them again!’ Then I heard sound like anchor dropping again. I also heard sound of paddling and divers’ craft moving around the boat. I also heard hammering sound from afar.

    “I started using the hammer to hit the wall to attract the divers. I heard them moving about. They were far away from where I was. I did that for some minutes and stopped. After a while, the sound died.

    “My hands and feet were very white (pale). When I located him, I was the one who touched the diver, I touched his head and he was shocked. He was searching and I just saw the light, so I jumped into the water. As he was shocked, he stretched out his hands. I touched him. I heard voices from the diver’s speaker shouting ‘there is a survivor, he is alive.’

    “At that point, I knew there was nothing I could do for myself again. God had done the most part. I just had to wait and see.

    “When we came out, I saw the stars in the sky and I thought I must have been in the water for the whole day. I thought it was the Sunday evening. It was after I left the DCC that I was told that I had spent over two days there.”