Watch: Kayaker gets swallowed by whale – briefly
Humpback whale briefly swallows kayaker
Video from a terrified father shows the moment his son was briefly swallowed whole by a humpback whale while they were kayaking off Chilean Patagonia.
Dramatic video shows the moment a humpback whale briefly swallowed a kayaker in the Strait of Magellan.
Last Saturday, Adrián Simancas was kayaking with his father, Dell, in Bahía El Águila near the San Isidro Lighthouse in the Strait of Magellan when a humpback whale surfaced, swallowing Adrián and his yellow kayak for a few seconds before letting him go.
How did the kayakers respond?
His father, just yards away, filmed the biblical moment while encouraging his son to stay calm.
What they're saying:
"Stay calm, stay calm," he can be heard saying after his son was released from the whale’s mouth.
His son did appear to remain calm, but he thought that was the end of his life.
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"I thought I was dead," Adrián told The Associated Press. "I thought it had eaten me, that it had swallowed me."
Those terrifying few seconds weren’t the worst of his fears: When he resurfaced, his first thought was that the huge animal would hurt his father or that he would perish in the frigid waters.
"When I came up and started floating, I was scared that something might happen to my father too, that we wouldn’t reach the shore in time, or that I would get hypothermia," Adrián said.
Humpback whale surfaces after briefly swallowing a kayaker in the Strait of Magellan (Adrian Andres Simancas Jaimes via Storyful)
His father continued filming, but he repeatedly reassured his son that all would be OK.
After a few seconds in the water, Adrián managed to reach his father’s kayak and was quickly assisted. Both returned to shore uninjured.
Is the Strait of Magellan dangerous?
Local perspective:
Located about 1,600 miles south of Santiago, Chile, the Strait of Magellan is a major tourist attraction in the Chilean Patagonia, known for adventure activities.
Its frigid waters pose a challenge for sailors, swimmers and explorers who attempt to cross it in different ways.
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Although it’s summer in the Southern Hemisphere, temperatures in the region remain cool, with minimums dropping to 39 degrees Fahrenheit and highs rarely exceeding 68 degrees Fahrenheit.
Are whale attacks common?
Dig deeper:
While whale attacks on humans are extremely rare in Chilean waters, whale deaths from collisions with cargo ships have increased in recent years, and strandings have become a recurring issue in the last decade.
The Source: This report includes information from Storyful and The Associated Press.