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Humpback whale swallows a Lobster fisherman near Cape Cod, spits him out after a few seconds

Michael Packard, 56, a commercial lobster diver off the coast of  in the US was swallowed by a Humpback whale on Friday morning. The whale spat him out after a few seconds.

Commercial lobster divers, like Michael Packard pluck lobsters of the sand bottom. Michael Packard was on his second dive of the day when he was swallowed by a Humpback whale.

“All of a sudden, I felt this huge shove and the next thing I knew it was completely black”, Packard told the media after his release from the hospital. “I could sense I was moving, and I could feel the whale squeezing with the muscles in his mouth.” He first thought he was swallowed by a great white shark. As he couldn’t feel any teeth or had any injuries he realized that he was in the mouth of a whale.

Packard said, “I was completely inside; it was completely black,” “I thought to myself, ‘there’s no way I’m getting out of here. I’m done, I’m dead.”

He estimated that he was in the whale’s mouth for about 30 to 40 seconds. Packard who was wearing scuba gear struggled inside and the whale shook its head and spat him out.

“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 told Cape Cod Times.

He was picked up by his crewman Josiah Mayo and was taken to Provincetown pier in their vessel “Ja’n J.” They were off Herring Cove Beach when the incident occurred. Packard was taken to hospital by Provincetown Fire Department ambulance.

He was released from the hospital on Friday afternoon itself.

Jooke Robbins, Director of Humpback Whale Studies at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, Massachusetts, said “Based on what was described, this would have to be a mistake and an accident on the part of the humpback.” She said humpbacks are not aggressive animals, particularly toward humans. Humpbacks have large mouths and narrow throat and so they cannot swallow a human.

The humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) is a species of baleen whale. (Baleen is a filter-feeding system inside the mouths of baleen whales). They have a distinct body shape. They have a stocky body, an obvious hump, long pectoral fins and a knobbly head. As they have special surface behaviors, they are very popular with whale watchers.

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