A kayaker has recounted the terrifying moment he was ‘swallowed by a whale’ while his father watched in shock, capturing the entire incident on camera.
Adrian Simancas was kayaking in Bahía El Águila, south of Punta Arenas, Chile, when a whale accidentally engulfed him and his kayak, according to local reports from 24Horas.
Amazingly, Simancas survived the ordeal, and his father, despite witnessing the dramatic event unfold, remained composed enough to record the shocking moment his son vanished beneath the waves.
Adrian recalled the terrifying moment, saying: “I saw something between blue and white pass close to my face, almost above me. I didn’t understand what was happening, and then I felt like I was drowning.
“I thought it had eaten me,” he admitted.
The father and son had been kayaking in the bay of the Magallanes region when what appeared to be a humpback whale surfaced with its mouth open, engulfing Adrian before quickly spitting him back out.
His father, Dell Simancas, sprang into action, using a rope to tow Adrian back to shore while keeping him calm.
“I didn’t see Adrian for three seconds, and I got scared,” Dell admitted. “When I turned around, he was just gone. That was the only truly frightening moment, those three seconds felt like forever. And then, suddenly, he just shot out.”
The dramatic footage captures Adrian kayaking peacefully before the massive whale unexpectedly breaches, engulfing him in the waves. Moments later, Adrian resurfaces, gripping onto his bright yellow kayak, visibly shaken but alive.
In the video, Dell can be heard shouting instructions to Adrian, urging him to stay calm and grab onto the boat as the whale briefly resurfaces before vanishing beneath the waves once more.
“Calm down, calm down, I’m coming,” Dell reassures his son while paddling toward him and tossing him a rope.
Still in shock, Adrian tells his father, “I thought [it] had swallowed me.”
Despite the terrifying ordeal, both father and son emerged unscathed and consider themselves incredibly lucky to have avoided disaster.
The incident comes as a new YouTube simulation video explores what would happen if a sperm whale were to swallow a person whole, and not spit them back out.
Zackdfilms, known for his educational yet chilling simulations, breaks down the horrifying reality: survival would be impossible, and the process would be gruesome.
The narrator explains: “If you were swallowed by a sperm whale, you would be squeezed down its massive throat. You’d continue down its esophagus and into a series of stomach chambers filled with digestive acids.
“These acids would immediately start breaking down your body, but even if you managed to avoid them, the lack of air inside the whale would quickly cause you to suffocate.”
With this in mind, one Twitter user summed up the sentiment perfectly in response to Adrian’s story:
“If I get swallowed by a whale and then spit out, tranquillo is NOT what I’m gonna be.”
