A humpback whale briefly engulfed a kayaker in Chile (Credit: Pixhere.com/ CC0/ Public Domain)

A kayaker in Chile had the fright of his lifetime when he briefly found himself inside the mouth of a humpback whale. Luckily, the mammal had no interest in eating a human and quickly spat him out.

The unexpected encounter occurred in the Strait of Magellan in southern Chile on February 8, 2025. Adrián Simancas was kayaking when he suddenly felt a force hit him from behind, lifting him into the air. Before he could react, a humpback whale emerged from the water and engulfed him and the kayak.

"I thought it had already eaten and swallowed me," Adrián later told The AP. "At first, when I thought I had died, it was, of course, a lot of terror because I thought, no, no, there was nothing I could do."

Fortunately, within seconds, both the kayak and its shaken passenger were back on the ocean surface. Adrián's father, Dell, had started filming just minutes earlier and captured the entire incident in a now-viral video. He later said he was recording the massive waves around his son, unaware they came from the whale below.

Humpback whales cannot swallow humans (Credit: Whalescientists.com/ CC-BY-SA-2.0/ Facebook)

Adrián believes the whale may have approached him out of curiosity. However, Dr. Jooke Robbins, a humpback expert, suggests the kayaker was just in the way as the mammal was feeding on krill and small fish.

"My guess is that the whale was just as surprised as the kayaker," Dr. Robbins told NPR. "If something — or someone — else mistakenly enters their path, that can be unintentionally (and just momentarily) engulfed."

Dr. Iain Kerr, CEO of the whale conservation nonprofit Ocean Alliance, agrees with Dr, Robbins.

"I'm sure it closes its eyes so it doesn't get damaged by anything, and I think this is one of those one-in-a-million situations where the fellow seemed to be at the wrong place at the wrong time," he said.

He also believes Adrián was never at risk of being eaten. While humpbacks have large mouths, their throats are only about the size of a human fist. Trying to swallow a person could cause serious jaw injury.

"They have no interest in eating us,[or] hurting us," Dr. Kerr told NPR. "It's not to their benefit."

Still, he hopes the video will inspire people worldwide to learn more about whales and support local conservation efforts.

Resources: NPR.com, CNN.com, Livescience.com