Father films the moment his son's swallowed by a whale

This completely crazy story took place on the 8th of February in the south of Chile, in the Strait of Magellan. A 24-year-old kayaker was briefly swallowed by a whale before being spat out... unharmed.

His father filmed the entire scene. Today, the video's going viral on the internet. It shows a humpback whale emerging from the water, swallowing 24-year-old kayaker Adrian Simancas, and spitting him out a few seconds later.

Adrian and his father, Dell Simancas, were paddling off the coast of Punta Arenas during the incident. The humpback whale spat the young man out shortly after attempting to swallow him. "I felt something between blue and white pass close to my face, on one side and on top. I didn’t understand what was happening and I sank. I thought (the whale) had swallowed me," Adrian Simancas told the Chilean channel TVN.

"All of a sudden, he came out"

Dell Simancas also gave his testimony: "When I turned around, I didn’t see anything, I didn’t see Adrian. It’s the only time I was really scared, because I didn’t see him for about three seconds. And all of a sudden, he came out." It was he who brought his son back to shore, happily noting that he wasn't injured.

According to experts, the whale couldn't have swallowed the young man: it was a species with a throat less than 40cm in diameter, reports the media La Dépêche. Maria José Pérez, marine biologist at the University of Chile, told the AFP: "It seems the kayak was right in the whale’s feeding area," she explained. That's why the animal can be seen "emerging at the surface on the side, mouth open, as if it were feeding," she added.

(MH with Raphaël Liset - Source: La Dépêche - Illustration: ©Unsplash)

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
<p dir="ltr" lang="fr">Une baleine avale un kayakiste avant de le recracher !<br><br>&Ccedil;a s&rsquo;est d&eacute;roul&eacute; samedi 8 f&eacute;vrier dernier dans la baie El &Aacute;guila, au large des c&ocirc;tes chiliennes. Adri&aacute;n, un kayakiste s&rsquo;est retrouv&eacute; englouti par une baleine &agrave; bosse avant d&rsquo;&ecirc;tre rel&acirc;ch&eacute; quelques secondes sans une&hellip; <a href="https://t.co/38DvYNyfce">pic.twitter.com/38DvYNyfce</a></p>
&mdash; Vakita (@vakitamedia) <a href="https://twitter.com/vakitamedia/status/1890445904479764985?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
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