After Getting Out Of The Gym Pool, One Swimmer Noticed Something Was Off

But for Dan Hill, his local 24 Hour Fitness had always been a place of refuge and comfort. He spent most of his days at the gym in an effort to stay in shape, though you'd probably never catch Dan hitting the heavy stuff like some other workout buffs.

Instead, Dan preferred swimming laps in the gym's pool, a great way to keep up that cardio without fooling around with those lousy treadmills. Unfortunately, this particular pool came with its own set of drawbacks.

Namely, the pool would get pretty crowded during daytime hours, leaving Dan to wait on dry land until a lane opened up. After a while, though, Dan got sick of waiting, and so he decided to switch up his routine a bit.

With 24 Hour Fitness staying open, well, 24 hours, Dan moved his regular swims to nighttime, heading over after work to burn off the stresses of the day. But when Dan turned up to the Sandy, Utah gym on the evening of January 11, he never anticipated the night in store.

It started off just like any other trip. Dan traded his work clothes for swim trunks and headed for the pool. Just like he'd hoped, the place was nearly empty — the pool lanes were all Dan's for the taking.

For the next few hours Dan splashed and swam across the pool, relishing in the space and privacy his new routine afforded him. By the time he finished up his final lap, the clock on the wall had already struck midnight.

After a quick shower and change of clothes, Dan was on his way out of the building at around a quarter past 12. He reached the gym's double glass front doors, but when he went to open them, they wouldn't budge. Both doors were locked.

Puzzled, Dan turned to see if any of the staff could help him out... but there was no one else in sight. Staring out across the empty floor, a startling realization dawned on him: the gym was closed — and he was locked inside.

At first, though, Dan wasn't exactly panicked. "I just thought it was kinda funny at the start. You know, it was kinda like 'Home Alone,'" he told KTVX. "Like oh my gosh. I have this gym to myself."

But as the minutes passed, the novelty he felt toward the situation was quickly replaced by an overwhelming sense of dread. Could he actually last a full night trapped in a gym? Snuggling up with the dumbbells didn't exactly seem like a recipe for a great night's sleep.

He started by searching the gym, hoping he'd stumble across another patron who had also been accidentally locked inside. Yet as he paced the halls and locker rooms, the echo of his steps confirmed his fears: he was utterly and completely alone.

Feeling his panic rising, Dan decided to call his wife. She was distraught by the news and encouraged him to get comfortable until they could come up with a way to get him out. Hearing this, Dan's first instinct was probably to make a bed of towels for the night...until he got another idea.

Rather than stay put, Dan remembered a fire exit at the back of the gym and immediately headed that way. But alas, the door was equipped with an alarm. If triggered, the cops could be alerted to an intruder. Dan was afraid the police might mistake him for a criminal.

With nowhere else to turn, Dan finally decided to call the police. "I called dispatch and the guy pauses for like 10 seconds and says 'You’re where?' And I said, 'I’m in 24 Hour Fitness, and there’s an alarm system here and I don’t want to get busted for breaking and entering.'"

The dispatcher replied that they'd send a patrol to the gym ASAP, but as the hours passed, Dan began to fear that officers thought his call had just been a prank. As 2 a.m. came and went, Dan couldn't help but wonder: would he ever get out of this gym?

Finally, just when all hope seemed lost, the flicker of blue and red lights poured in through the front doors. Dan raced to the glass, relieved to find three officers standing on the other side. It was finally time to go home, and Dan couldn't have been more relieved...

"Free at last! Free at last! Thanks to three nice cops I am free at last," Dan wrote in a Facebook post about his ordeal, which soon racked up over 17k likes, 2.5k comments, and 7k shares. Dan never expected to go viral for being locked in a gym, but, in a way, he understood all the fuss.

"I think everyone secretly wants to be locked in a department or hardware store or restaurant etc," he told Insider. "I think that's one reason it blew up so much. It taps into that feeling of being the last person on Earth."

Dan went on to say that he has no hard feelings toward 24 Hour Fitness, who issued an apology for not stating that select branches would be closing between 12 and 4 due to low usage. He also now swims with an "I'm Here" sign as a humorous way to avoid ever being locked in again.

Dan has a pretty good attitude about the whole ordeal. "Everyone makes mistakes," he said of the infamous incident. And while his experience being trapped in a gym was certainly odd, it's not the weirdest — or most dangerous — place someone's been trapped. Dan can laugh about his experience — a man named Mohammad cannot.

It was July of 2017, and Mohammad was the chief officer aboard the Bahrain-flagged MV Aman cargo ship. After two months of trouble-free sailing, the ship stopped at the port of Adabiya in Egypt. Mohammad was left in charge while the captain ran errands ashore. It seemed like any other routine stop.

Mohammad was working on a few customary repairs when he spied a stranger approaching from down the pier. He squinted into the sunlight: the man was an Egyptian court courier. Curious, he climbed down from his post, and made his way down to greet the guest. He had no clue how much he'd come to regret letting this man on board.

The courier carried a letter that would put a stop to the crew's travels. It declared that the MV Aman would be detained in the Egyptian port due to safety certificates expiring. Additionally, the owners had debt that needed to be paid off. As Mohammad would find out, the ship's owners didn't handle their business well.

The courier showed Mohammad a $21,500 invoice for a three-ton anchor bought the year before by the ship's owner, and to make matters worse, their Lebanese contractors failed to pay for fuel. With the owners in financial hardship, the MV Aman would have to remain in the port until it was paid off or sold. Since Mohammad was left in charge, he figured he could sign the official documents from the court courier.

A part of the document that Mohammad signed would declare him as the legal guardian, which his captain recommended to be a good decision. None the wiser, Mohammad followed the advice — without knowing what he was agreeing to. He realized soon afterward that he'd made "the biggest mistake of [his] life."

He hadn't realized that being a ship's guardian was a 24/7 job. Mohammad couldn't leave the MV Aman for any reason. When he realized what he was in for, he called the ship's agent...but there was nothing anyone could do. With no other choice, he settled in for what he thought would be a few months, but months stretched on, and when he'd been there a year, Mohammad's despair got even worse.

A full year and a month passed since his forced guardianship began, and not only was the abandoned ship beginning to decay, but so was Mohammad's life. In August 2018, the trapped sailor received the heartbreaking news that his mother had passed away. Rather than allow Mohammad to momentarily return home to grieve, the ship company forced him to remain aboard.

This was Mohammad's lowest point in the ordeal. His mom wasn't just the woman who gave him life; they had a close relationship, and she'd even taught him to speak English. When Mohammad wasn't even allowed to say goodbye, it hit him hard. "I seriously considered ending my life," he told the BBC. Somehow, though, his inner strength took over.

Another year passed for Mohammad, and as inspiring as his resilience was, his crewmates didn't share the same spirit. One by one, they decided to leave, abandoning Mohammad in the process. There was the occasional guard who came aboard, but aside from that it was just Mohammad, alone with the MV Aman and the rodents that scurried in the cargo hold.

Nighttime was the worst part, when the port was at its quietest. Some might find it peaceful, but to Mohammad, the dark and the quiet of the dying ship was like sitting in a graveyard, and it felt like he was sleeping in his own coffin. And as help began to dwindle, his time on the ship grew even more dangerous.

Mohammad was given minimal support through the ship's agent. He was sent food and fuel, but towards the summer of 2019, those deliveries became smaller and smaller. There were even days when he only had small pieces of dry bread to eat throughout the day. It was at this point that he became desperate.

In September of that year, Mohammad sent out distress signals on two separate days, trying to alert officials that there was no way for him to survive on the decaying ship. When no one responded, Mohammad knew there was no way he could continue to stay on the ship. He decided it was finally his turn to abandon it; surely the legal team would understand.

The young sailor took a lifeboat and rowed it to shore, hoping to somehow cut through the bureaucratic red tape, but local police were there to oppose him. They knew about his situation, but when they caught him walking on Egyptian soil, they had to escort him back to the graveyard ship. Without an Egyptian visa, he wasn't legally allowed on ashore.

Mohammad begged them to take him to jail, but they claimed he didn't do anything to merit an arrest. When he was taken back to the MV Aman, it was like returning to prison. Only one thing would help keep his spirits high.

Although he couldn't see most of his family in person, Mohammad's brother was also a sailor who often passed through the Adabiya port. Each time, they'd wave to one another from their ships, barely able to really see that far — but each knew the other was there. These moments of reprieve helped remind Mohammad he wasn't alone, and they helped him survive through what would come next.

In October, the neglected ship began to flood. The already-desperate Mohammad rushed to call for help, shouting "Mayday Mayday!" into the radio. As the ship began to sink with him still in it, a military patrol rescued him and took him to shore. But rather than provide comfort after a near-death experience, both the military and the police interrogated Mohammad, suspecting he'd tried to engineer an escape.

The interrogation lasted for 10 days while the ship was repaired. Soon after the interrogations, Mohammad was sent back, once again, to the MV Aman. This time, though, he wasn't alone: the ship's agent didn't trust him by himself, and hired a retired sailor named Mohamed Kamel to help guard the ship and keep Mohammad out of trouble.

At first Mohamed was stern with Mohammad, but it didn't take long for sympathy to grow. Mohammad had become so ill from being abandoned that he developed scurvy-like symptoms, lost teeth, and was in so much pain all the time he needed 12 painkillers just to fall asleep. There wasn't much time left: he needed divine intervention.

Several more months flew by, and Mohammad's condition wasn't getting any better. It was a miracle he was still alive, but at this point miracles were all that he had left to look forward to. Most people wouldn't think an oncoming storm would be good news, but what happened next would be an immense relief for Mohammad.

The storm arrived in the Adabiya port in March 2020. It was so incredibly strong it blew the MV Aman five miles from its anchorage — just a few hundred meters from the shoreline. As terrifying as it was, Mohammad believed it was an act from God. He jumped overboard and swam his way to the safety of shore, where he was again met by police — this time, with slightly better news.

Seeing the shape he was in, local authorities were now more sympathetic to Mohammad's plight. Even after the storm settled, they allowed Mohammad to remain on land until sunset, and although they still had to send him back, they did give him another bit of support.

From that point on, Mohammad was allowed to return to shore every few days to retrieve food and water and charge his phone. Since he could only legally come to shore by swimming through the port's waters, locals gave him the nickname "Castaway," and his story began to spread. He soon gained another ally in his corner.

Mohammad's case was not the first time a sailor had been abandoned, which is why the International Transport Workers Federation, or ITF for short, exists to support those who are being abused. The ITF began working on Mohammad's case in December of 2020, chipping away tirelessly every day at their goal: to bring him home.

ITF's Arab World and Iran network coordinator Mohamed Arrachedi worked with the shipowner, the Bahraini registry, and the Egyptian authorities for months before they finally found a breakthrough in April 2021. Someone was found to replace Mohammad so he could finally return home.

The ITF managed to find a union representative in Egypt to take Mohammad's place. It was enough to please the courts, freeing Mohammad from his legal shackles. Once the courts approved, the ITF moved quickly to process Mohammad's immigration and also arrange for a COVID-19 test, which was required even for someone who was already in isolation.

Mohammad was aware of what was happening in the world with the pandemic, but not even COVID-19 could stop him from returning home to his beloved family. Unfortunately, not everyone would be there to welcome him home.

As he was packing to leave for home, Mohammad was given the news that his grandmother had passed away. "I will never forgive the people who kept me here while I lost my family, one by one," he bitterly shared, before finally leaving the port of Adabiya for good.

Living on the MV Aman might have been like a prison sentence, but today Mohammad Aisha is happily safe at home with his family, who thew a welcome party for him upon his return. Although his past four years as a sailor have been a living hell, he says he still wants to return to what he does best.

Mohammad plans to rest up, restore his health, and spend time with his family before returning to sea after his long ordeal. The fact that he wants to return to the sea is incredibly admirable. We would understand if he never set foot on a ship ever again.