Lobster diver survives after almost being swallowed by a whale

A PROFESSIONAL lobster diver has been injured after getting caught in the mouth of a humpback whale off the coast of Cape Cod.

Michael Packard, 56, of Wellfleet in Massachusetts, told WBZ-TV after he was released from Cape Cod Hospital that he was about 45 feet deep in the waters off Provincetown when “all of a sudden I felt this huge bump, and everything went dark”. He thought he had been attacked by a shark, common in the area’s waters, but then realised he could not feel any teeth and he was not in any pain.

“Then I realised, oh my God, I’m in a whale’s mouth ... and he’s trying to swallow me,” he said.

“And I thought to myself OK, this is it – I’m finally – I’m gonna die.”

He said his thoughts went to his wife and children.

Mr Packard estimates he was in the whale’s mouth for about 30 seconds, but continued to breathe because he still had his breathing apparatus in.

Then the whale surfaced, shook its head and spat him out. He was rescued by his crewmate in the surface boat.