Ever since the story broke of a man surviving underwater for three days, people have been asking how this was possible. The Nigerian man was lost at sea and assumed dead by everyone after his boat, the AHT Jascon-4, went underwater and sank down to more than a hundred feet blow the surface. The man’s name was Okene, and he had been a cook board the ship. When the vessel capsized, he was trapped in a tiny bathroom under the water and had no way to signal for anything – especially for help. However, he was in an air bubble so he was able to survive the three long days, although he had no food or water during that time. That meant that he was in a very weak state by the time that the divers found him.
“If you’re trapped in something like that, your carbon dioxide levels will build to a toxic level before you use up the oxygen,” said Eric Hexdall, clinical director of diving at the Duke Center. That would have been his main problem, rather than the more common belief that he would run out of oxygen. There are apparently several stages of carbon dioxide toxicity, and symptoms would include a sort of buzz or a feeling of being high. Then, the person would lose consciousness. “It wouldn’t have necessarily poisoned him,” Hexdall said. “It would have taken about 79 hours for him to be unconscious from carbon dioxide.”