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Kayaker describes moment he was ‘swallowed by whale’ as father shares shocking footage
Home>News>World News
Published 18:42 13 Feb 2025 GMT

Kayaker describes moment he was ‘swallowed by whale’ as father shares shocking footage

Adrian Simancas was out on the water with his dad when disaster struck

Liv Bridge

Liv Bridge

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Featured Image Credit: Twitter/AMAZlNGNATURE

Topics: Nature, World News, Animals, Sport

Liv Bridge
Liv Bridge

Liv Bridge is a digital journalist who joined the UNILAD team in 2024 after almost three years reporting local news for a Newsquest UK paper, The Oldham Times. She's passionate about health, housing, food and music, especially Oasis...

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A kayaker has described the moment he was ‘swallowed by a whale’ as his father watched on in horror and managed to record the incident.

A young man was kayaking the waters in in Bahía El Águila, south of Punta Arenas in Chile, when a whale apparently accidentally swallowed him and his kayak, according to local reports in 24Horas.

Miraculously, not only did Adrian Simancas survive but his father managed to record the ordeal and keep surprisingly calm as he watched his son disappear beneath the waves.

The kayaker could be seen disappearing beneath the surface of the waves (Twitter/@AMAZlNGNATURE)
The kayaker could be seen disappearing beneath the surface of the waves (Twitter/@AMAZlNGNATURE)

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Recalling the terrifying incident, Adrian said: "I saw something between blue and white that passed close to my face and it was like on one side and above me. I didn't understand what was happening and then I felt like I was drowning.

"I thought it had eaten me," he added.

The pair were sailing in the bay of the Magallanes region when the apparent humpback whale submerged with its mouth open and swallowed Adrian before spitting him back out.

The whale apparently swallowed the kayak, too (Twitter/@AMAZlNGNATURE)
The whale apparently swallowed the kayak, too (Twitter/@AMAZlNGNATURE)

His father, Dell Simancas, tried to help his son and used a rope to tow him to the shore, all while keeping him calm.

Dell added: "I didn't see Adrian for three seconds and I got scared. When I turned around I didn't see anything, I didn't see Adrian. That was the only real scary moment I had, because I didn't see him for like three seconds. And suddenly he just shot out."

The footage shows Adrian gently kayaking on the water when the giant mammal pops its head out of the water and the man disappears beneath the waves.

Seconds later, Adrian appears, followed by his yellow kayak, which he could be seen gripping onto.

The father was helping his son to keep calm in the incident (Twitter/AMAZlNGNATURE)
The father was helping his son to keep calm in the incident (Twitter/AMAZlNGNATURE)

In the video, his father is shouting instructions to Adrian, telling him to 'calm down' and 'grab the boat' while the whale makes another appearance before bobbing back beneath the surface.

"Calm down, calm down, I'm coming," he says to his son as he paddles towards him and hands him a rope.

Adrian then says to his father: "I thought [it] had swallowed me."

Despite the harrowing moment, the duo managed to escape without any injuries and consider themselves lucky to have avoided tragedy.

The news comes as a new YouTube simulation video shows just what would happen if a sperm whale was to swallow you whole - and fail to spit you back out afterwards.

Zackdfilms, renowned for his educational and oftentimes terrifying simulation videos, explains you would certainly die - and in a pretty gruesome way, too.

The narrator said: “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 that are filled with digestive acids.

"These acids would immediately start breaking down your body but even if you managed to avoid the acid, the lack of air inside the whale would quickly cause you to suffocate.”

With this in mind and as one Twitter user wrote 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."

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