"Watch: Viral Video Shows Humpback Whale Swallowing Kayaker"
PUNTA ARENAS, Chile — A Chilean man experienced the shock of a lifetime when he briefly found himself in the mouth of a humpback whale while kayaking off the coast of Chilean Patagonia, according to reports.
Adrián Simancas, whose father was filming the kayaking trip on Saturday in the Strait of Magellan, had no idea what was about to happen when a whale suddenly surfaced and took both Simancas and his kayak beneath the water. The video of the surprising encounter quickly went viral.
Moments later, Simancas and his kayak resurfaced. In the video, his father, Dell, can be heard shouting, “Grab the boat!” Simancas quickly grabbed hold of the kayak and swam toward his father.
“I thought it had already eaten me and swallowed me,” Simancas recalled in a video from the Associated Press. “But I also thought maybe it was a killer whale. We had just been talking about orcas, so that was on my mind.”
As the whale surfaced just a few feet from Simancas, he said he was terrified and worried that it might harm his father. He also feared the cold water would lead to hypothermia.
Fortunately, both men made it back to shore safely.
Reflecting on the experience, Simancas said, “When I got out, I understood that it was probably just curiosity that brought the whale close to me, or maybe it was trying to communicate something.”
Looking back on the moment, Simancas admitted, “At first, when I thought I had died, I was filled with terror because I felt there was nothing I could do.”
Wildlife scientist Vanessa Pirotta explained to CNN that the whale was likely “lunge fishing” for krill or fish and accidentally ingested the kayaker. She added that humpback whales are not capable of consuming prey the size of a human.
“They don’t have the physical ability to swallow a human,” Pirotta noted.
Post a Comment