American fisherman says he was swallowed by a whale

A US fisherman says he was swallowed by a humpback whale while diving for lobster off the state of Massachusetts on Friday.

I was in my mouth closed for about 30 to 40 seconds before rising to the surface and spitting me out, says Michael Packard himself on Facebook.

The man was hospitalized but survived the incident with bruises and minor injuries, probably just one knee out of the joint. BBC.

He must have been about ten meters below the surface of the water when this happened. for local newspaper Cape Cod Times He says that he suddenly got a violent shock before everything turned black.

A local NBC journalist in Boston described what happened on Twitter as follows:

At first thought it was a shark

Packard initially thought he had been attacked by a shark, but it was soon discovered that there were no sharp teeth and no wounds.

He struggled for a while before seeing the light. According to Packard, the whale started moving its head back and forth before spitting.

His friend Josiah Mayo, who accompanied Packard on a fishing trip, is said to have seen “an explosion of water” when the whale rose to the surface.

Humpback whales have large mouths, but the pharynx is too narrow for a human to eat, according to Juke Robbins, a researcher on whales at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

She has never heard of similar stories before, but says she has no reason to doubt the story, partly because she knows the people involved.

According to Robbins, the diver has probably just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. It is not certain whether the whale found out that there was something else in the way.

– When they catch fish, they come very fast, open their mouths and swallow the fish and the water very quickly, she tells AFP news agency.