A shocking video has gone viral showing a kayaker in Chile being swallowed by a humpback whale in the Strait of Magellan, only to be spit back out within seconds.
The incident occurred when Adrián Simancas, 24, was kayaking with his father, Dell Simancas, off the Chilean Patagonia in the Strait of Magellan.
The footage, taken by the father just a few yards away, showed Simancas paddling his yellow kayak when a humpback whale decided to approach him. All of a sudden, Simancas became a modern-day Jonah, as the whale came out of the water and swallowed him whole, along with his kayak.
When the whale surfaced, Simancas completely disappeared inside its mouth — but was released just a few seconds later. According to reporting from The El Pais, “Humpback whales, which can weigh up to 48 tons and measure 19 meters in length in the case of females, feed on plankton, plants, and fish. They have a small throat, which makes it difficult for a human body to reach their stomach. They rarely attack humans and are known for being one of longest-traveling species in the world.”
After being released from the humpback whale’s mouth unharmed, Simancas can be seen trying to find his bearings as he grabbed his kayak and his father paddled toward him, telling him to stay calm.
This is the moment a kayaker in Chile narrowly escaped death when a humpback whale swallowed him whole before releasing him unharmed: pic.twitter.com/KRmfSDf4ur
— DW News (@dwnews) February 13, 2025
Simancas later spoke to reporters about the intense ordeal, stating: “I thought I was dead. I thought it had eaten me, that it had swallowed me.”
He went on to note that he could not believe that the humpback whale was even coming near him, let alone swallowing him.
“At first, I thought it had swallowed me whole, although I didn’t really know what it was, and then, when I got back to the surface, I realized it was a whale,” Simancas recalled.
“I also knew that there wasn’t that much danger, unless it started jumping or knocked my dad off his boat, because then it would be very difficult for us to get back to shore,” he said.
