In a truncated rendition of the Biblical story, a man was trapped in a whale’s mouth – and emerged unharmed.
Michael Packard, a commercial lobsterman working off the coast of Massachusetts in the United States, was diving for lobster near the town of Providence. While under water he noticed a large form. He ‘felt this huge bump and everything went dark.’
It turned out to be a humpback whale, which proceeded to swallow him.
Packard recounted feeling around in the darkness, knowing that sharks swam in the waters. Finding no teeth, he realised that he had been swallowed by a whale.
Like the Biblical Jonah, he was disgorged, although his captivity lasted only 30 to 40 seconds.
‘All of a sudden he went up to the surface and just erupted and started shaking his head. I just got thrown in the air and landed in the water. I was free and I just floated there. I couldn’t believe… I’m here to tell it,’ Packard said.
The whale was a humpback. It feeds by opening its mouth and drawing in large quantities of water drag in fish and krill. Swallowing a human is extremely rare and the event was almost certainly accidental.