It was a whale of this type, a humpback whale, which is said to have swallowed and spat out the American fisherman. This whale was photographed outside Puerto Lopez, Ecuador. Photo: Shutterstock
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– I thought: Now I’m going to die.
– The thought went through my head: I breathe. Should I continue to breathe here inside the whale’s mouth until I run out of air?
Then he said to himself, “OK. That was it. Now I’m going to die.
– I thought of my wife and children, he says. – There was no way I could get out.
The whale began throwing its head back and forth before suddenly spitting out, according to Packard.
Packard was thrown into the air and landed in the water.
– I was free and just lay there and floated, he says.
His friend Josiah Mayo was with Packard on the fishing trip. He is said to have witnessed an “explosion of water” when the whale rose to the surface.
Unable to eat people
Humpback whales have large mouths, but the pharynx is too narrow to eat a human, according to Jooke 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 those involved.
The diver has probably only been in the wrong place at the wrong time, according to Robbins. It is not certain that the whale discovered that something else was also in the way.
– When they fish, they come at great speed, open their mouths and swallow the fish and water very quickly, she says to the news agency AFP.
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