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 creature in 2021.
Incredibly, he returned to work just three weeks after the ordeal which occurred in Massachusetts, The 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 sudden 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 ligament 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 experienced 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."
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
