A kayaker in Chilean Patagonia had a terrifying close encounter with a humpback whale that briefly swallowed him—before quickly releasing him unharmed.
Adrián Simancas was kayaking with his father, Dell, in Bahía El Águila near the San Isidro Lighthouse in the Strait of Magellan last Saturday when a massive humpback whale suddenly surfaced and engulfed him and his yellow kayak, AP News reported. The whale released him within seconds, but not before his father, just meters away, filmed the shocking moment.
@independent A humpback whale appeared to briefly swallow a kayaker off Chilean Patagonia before quickly releasing him unharmed. Adrián Simancas was kayaking with his father, Dell Simancas, when the whale surfaced, trapping the young man and his watercraft in its mouth for a few seconds before releasing him. It occurred in Bahía El Águila last Saturday near the San Isidro Lighthouse in the Strait of Magellan. "I thought I was dead," Adrián told the Associated Press. "I thought it had eaten me, that it had swallowed me."
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"I thought I was dead," Adrián told AP. "I thought it had eaten me, that it had swallowed me."
While Adrián described the "terror" he felt in those few seconds, his real fear set in after resurfacing—worried that the whale might harm his father or that he would succumb to the freezing waters.
Dell, despite his own concern, stayed calm and reassured his son throughout the ordeal, repeatedly telling him to "stay calm" after the whale let him go. Adrián managed to swim to his father's kayak and was safely assisted back to shore. Neither suffered any injuries.
The Strait of Magellan, located about 1,600 miles south of Santiago, is a tourist attraction where whale encounters are common, but attacks on humans are extremely rare.
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