Diving to catch lobsters in the middle of the sea, the 56-year-old man was suddenly swallowed by a humpback whale.

Michael Packard, 56, is a lobster diver in the state of Massachusetts, Northeastern United States. At about 8 a.m. on June 11, Michael Packard dived in the waters off Provincetown to catch lobsters. However, when he was at a depth of 14m, the man suddenly felt “a strong impact and the sky darkened”.

At first Michael thought he was attacked by a shark because sharks are common in these waters, but he did not feel the pain. Fumbling around, Michael realized he was in the mouth of a humpback whale.

“Suddenly, I felt something stabbing me, and then my surroundings were completely black. I could feel myself moving and the fish was squeezing the muscles in its mouth,” the man recalled the moment he was swallowed by the whale.

“I was completely inside the whale’s mouth. At that time I thought, that’s it, there’s no way I can get out of here. I think about my wife and children, my two sons, 15 and 12 years old,” Michael said.

Fortunately, after about 30-40 seconds, the whale suddenly surfaced and began to shake vigorously, spitting the fisherman out of its mouth. Michael was thrown into the air then fell into the water. “I saw the light, it started shaking its head and the next thing I knew I was out of the giant’s mouth,” the 56-year-old recalls.

Michael checks his health in hospital after he was almost swallowed by a whale.

He was rescued by a friend on the boat and taken to the hospital for a check-up. The doctors concluded that he only had a bruised leg and was discharged from the hospital.

One whale expert said such encounters between humpback whales and humans are rare. Humpback whales are usually 12-16 meters long, can weigh up to 36 tons, but are gentle creatures, usually eating only mollusks and fish, not attacking people. So it is possible that the whale may have mistakenly swallowed Michael while hunting a school of fish.