The lobsterman at Cape Cod who shocked the world after he was almost swallowed by a whale reportedly also survived a plane crash.
The Costa Rica plane that crashed on November 29, 2001, while flying from the capital of San José to the fishing village of Puerto Jimenez, also brought an end to the lives of three people.
57-year-old Michael Packard, “suffered severe facial injuries and multiple broken long bones in his arms and legs,” the Cape Cod Times reported back then.
He and four others aboard the plane reportedly spent two nights in the jungle before a rescue team came to pick them up.
A doctor who cared for them said:
“They would not have survived another night at that [crash] site.”
Lobster diver Michael Packard was working from Friday morning off Herring Cove Beach. While inside the whale, “I thought to myself, ‘there’s no way I’m getting out of here. I’m done, I’m dead.’”
Image: Mary Ann Bragg/Provincetown Banner
Michael goes on boat trips in the Costa Rica area during winter. He is the son of artist Anne Packard, whose paintings have been featured at the Louvre in Paris and The Met in New York.
Michael could not be reached for comment, but a person close to him confirmed that he is the same man who almost ended up on the menu of a humpback whale last Friday.
A drawing a day, and occasionally two.
Day 450. This is Michael Packard, who today was swallowed by a humpback whale off the coast of Provincetown, Massachusetts for about 40 seconds. (This drawing is for @alexanderchee, @Paul_Lisicky and @theopward.) pic.twitter.com/KDPrh8m4Yq— Edward Carey (@EdwardCarey70) June 12, 2021
The heart-stopping tale of his encounter with the giant sea monster made headlines all over the world.
“All of a sudden I felt like I got hit by a freight train and everything went black,” he told the media. “And it went black and I was like, ‘Oh my God, what the heck? Where am I, did I just get bitten by a great white?’ And then I realized after I said it’s not a shark the only thing it could be is I just got eaten by a whale.”
Veteran Cape Cod lobster diver Michael Packard was swallowed whole by a humpback whale and lives to tell the story… pic.twitter.com/CQcCP2fdVs
— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) June 12, 2021
Michael said that the beast spat him back out 30 or 40 seconds later.
For CBS Boston’s report on the story, please click below.
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