Whale swallowed a fisherman and then spat him out alive

A strange event occurred in Massachusetts, United States. This Friday, a humpback whale swallowed a lobster fisherman and then spat him out safe and sound.

The story was picked up by the local newspaper Cape Cod Times, but Provincetown’s Michael Packard decided to tell the story. " Hello to everyone, I'd like to explain what happened to me today, "wrote the fisherman.

"I was inside his closed mouth for 30 to 40 seconds before he popped up on the surface and spat me out. I have bruises all over my body, but no broken bones. I'd like to thank the Provincetown lifeguards for their concern and assistance "..

To avoid casting doubt on what happened, his fishing partner, Josiah Mayo, told Cape Cod Times that he saw Michael being pushed out of the whale's mouth into the Atlantic Ocean. He called the lifeguards right away.

Jooke Robbins, director of humpback whale studies at the Centre for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, said he knew those involved and that Josiah Mayo is the son of one of this institution's researchers.

As a result, he believes the story because "I know the people involved (…) so I have all the reasons to believe that what they say is true."

Robbins mentions that they had never recorded a similar event, but explains that it could have happened because the fisherman was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"When these whales are looking for food, they start with their mouths open, swallow fish and water very quickly and then repel the water through their beards, which act like a filter," the researcher told AFP.

He added that while the whales have huge mouth, their throats are quite narrow, so there is no chance of them swallowing a human.

According to Josiah Mayo, the whale was young, so it may not have sensed an intruder in its mouth.

After "swallowing" the man, she may have been "rather surprised and opened her mouth to throw him out," according to Jooke Robbins.