Cape Cod man swallowed by whale

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His name’s not Jonah — but this Cape Cod man sure has something in common with the biblical figure now.
Commercial lobster diver Michael Packard was going about his business off the coast off Provincetown, Mass. when he was swallowed whole by a humpback whale — trapped in its gullet for nearly a minute before being coughed back up, according to a report.
Packard, 56, was about 35 feet below the surface near Herring Cove Beach at 8 a.m. Friday when the massive mammal tried to turn him into breakfast, the Cape Cod Times reported.

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Packard told the local CBS News affiliate that he thought to himself “This is it, I’m gonna die.”
“I was completely inside [the whale]; it was completely black,” Packard told the Cape Cod Times. “I thought to myself, ‘there’s no way I’m getting out of here. I’m done, I’m dead. All I could think of was my boys, they’re 12 and 15 years old.”

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But when he realized he could feel no teeth, he began struggling and felt the whale shaking his head in discomfort, he said
Within 40 seconds the massive mammal spit him back out into the ocean.

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His boating pal, Josiah Mayo, saw water spraying as the sea creature surfaced and Packard was ejected, the Cape Cod paper reported.
He plucked Packard out of the sea, and rushed him to a hospital, where he was treated for soft tissue damage to his leg.
Amazingly, Packard said he feels just fine after his remarkable, Pinocchio-style getaway.
“I’m good overall,” he said.

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An expert said the whale was likely a juvenile, and may have swallowed Packard accidentally, not seeing the diver while his mouth was open wide to scoop up little fish.

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