Page 16 - IAV Digital Magazine #548

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
Diver Swallowed Whole By
Whale Thought He Was Going
To Die In Terrifying Ordeal
By Ewan Gleadow, Chloe Burrell, Trainee Network Writer
A diver who was swallowed whole by a whale has recalled the terrifying encounter, admitting that he thought he was going to die.
Lobster diver Michael Packard, 56, found
himself in the mouth of the gigantic crea- ture in 2021.
Incredibly, he returned to work just three weeks after the ordeal which occurred
in Massachusetts, Th e Daily Star reports.
In a new interview, Michael spoke of being hit by what felt
like a "freight train" while on his third dive of the day, stating: "It was just a normal day for me. I go out right at sunrise. I get in the water and I did two dives.
"And then the third dive, I dove down and I was descending to the bottom. And I just got slammed. Just
like a freight train... and then all of a sud- den it went black.
"And water was just rushing, rushing around me, and black, and I could feel pressure on my whole body. And I was just moving through the water like wicked fast.
"And I'm like 'what the
f**k'."
The 56-year-old says he knew "instantly" that he was in a whale and not a shark and thought: "This is it. This is how you die.
"And I was 100% sure that... I wouldn't get out of this situation. It was a done deal, and I thought about my kids, and my wife."
But while Michael escaped with liga- ment damage to his knee and bruising, it is not the first brush with death the lobster diver has had, recounting a plane crash he had experi- enced two decades prior.
Michael said the experience was "more haunting, because this was so quick... the plane crash, I sat in the jungle for three days... punctured lung and four broken ribs, 180 stitches in my head, cut Achilles."
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine