Michael Packard, a commercial lobster diver on Cape Cod has reported that he was swallowed whole by a humpback whale on Friday. The whale had him in its mouth for approximately 30-40 seconds before it spit him out.
“All of a sudden, I felt this huge shove and the next thing I knew it was completely black,” Packard told the Cape Cod Times. “I could sense I was moving, and I could feel the whale squeezing with the muscles in his mouth.”
“I was completely inside; it was completely black,” Packard said. “I thought to myself, ‘there’s no way I’m getting out of here. I’m done, I’m dead.’ All I could think of was my boys — they’re 12 and 15 years old.”
“I saw light, and he started throwing his head side-to-side and the next thing I knew I was outside [in the water],” Packard said. “My first thought was I can’t believe I got out of that situation. My second thought was for how injured I was,” Packard said.
Packard later wrote on a Provincetown, MA community Facebook page:
Hi everyone,I just want to clarify what happened to me today.I was lobster diving and a humpback whale tried to eat me. I was in his closed mouth for about 30 to 40 seconds before he rose to the surface and spit me out. I am very bruised up but have no broken bones. I want to thank the Provincetown rescue squad for there caring and help.”
#EXCLUSIVE Lobster diver says he was swallowed by a whale off Provincetown @wbz WATCH NOW on https://t.co/EQbM7b5eZ7 #BreakingNews #CBSNBoston #WBZ #WhaleTale pic.twitter.com/k4tNy6s4Gi
— Meagan Kolkmann (@MeaganKolkmann) June 11, 2021
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