The sperm whale was one of two that died after becoming trapped in a narrow channel in the Faroe Islands.
The islands’ 50,000-strong Danish community wanted to use one of the whale’s skeletons in a museum, so Bjarni Mikkelse had the unenviable task of cutting open the corpse.
As the whale had been dead for two days, a build-up of gas was expected. However, no one was prepared for an explosion of this size.
Dressed from head to toe in protective clothing, the marine biologist is seen carefully prodding the carcass.
With a loud bang, the gas trapped inside rips through the 45ft-whale’s corpse, spewing guts and internal organs into the air.
SHI/SHI