Did Fick’s Law save Harrison Odjegba Okene?

Harrison Okene’s story of survival began in the early hours of May 26, 2013, when a rogue wave capsized a tugboat off the coast of Nigeria. Okene, the ship’s cook, had awakened early and was in the bathroom when the boat began to sink.

According to Okene, the remaining eleven crew members were all locked in their cabins as a safety precaution against pirates who regularly robbed and abducted vessels in the area. Unfortunately, this safety measure apparently doomed the sleeping crew members.

Okene’s story is that he eventually made his way to the engineer’s office, where he found a small pocket of air. By this time, the boat had come to rest upside down 30 meters (100 feet) underwater on the sea floor. Almost naked, and with nothing but a bottle of Coke, Okene appeared doomed to die a slow death. Alone and terrified, Okene said he could hear what he believed were the sounds of sharks devouring the bodies of his crewmates.

Divers from a neighboring oil-rig were sent to the scene. This was not going to be a rescue operation as four bodies had already been…