Video of kayaker ‘being swallowed by humpback whale’ stuns social media – but is all as it seems?
Video apparently showing a young kayaker being swallowed and then spat out by a humpback whale has stunned social media – but all is not as it seems in the astonishing clip.
The clip seemed to show the moment Adrian Simancas vanished in front of his anguished father, Dell, as the pair kayaked in choppy waters off the city of Punta Arenas in southern Chile.
The huge whale seemed to gulp down the 24-year-old and his inflatable kayak after emerging from nowhere and opening up its enormous mouth.
But online commentators were quick to suggest the video may have been digitally altered, writing on social media that ‘it is possible to notice that the man was inserted later’.
Critics slowed down the video and showed how the kayak disappeared entirely in one frame before reappearing – and before the whale surfaced.
The incident was filmed by Dell and appeared across social media, as well as in local outlets.
Adrian, who was unharmed and didn’t need any type of medical treatment, told a Chilean TV programme afterwards: ‘I saw something blue and white passing close to my face like on one side and on top but I didn’t understand what was happening. The next minute I sank. I thought I had been eaten.’
The astonishing moment the whale breached the water and pulled Adrian down
Adrian was filmed floating on the open water moments before the whale leapt out
Adrian’s father, a 49-year-old Venezuelan-born anaesthetist who lives in Chile, added: ‘I turned round and I couldn’t see Adrian and that was the only real moment of panic.
‘He disappeared for about three seconds and then shot out and that’s when I calmed down because I saw he was safe.’
But one version of the video shared online contested the events.
On a version of the video shared on X, claiming incorrectly that Adrian was 20, commentators said, ‘this video is digitally altered so that it seems that a man was swallowed by a whale.
‘With close analysis, it is possible to notice that the man was added later.’
Slowing down the clip, viewers could see how the kayak appears to disappear entirely in one frame, before reappearing.
The incident was said to have occurred around 3pm local time on Saturday in the freezing waters of the 350 mile-long Straits of Magellan, considered the most important natural passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
The father and son were using inflatable kayaks they had been carrying in rucksacks during a previous trek on dry land.
Dell, who was filming his son when the mammal breached the water, could be overheard telling his son: ‘Stay calm, stay calm, don’t get back into the boat, head for the shoreline, I’m coming’.
As he paddled towards him while the whale disappeared from view, he continued to urge him: ‘Stay calm, grab my rope, grab my rope, if we head for the shore everything will be fine’ before steering him away from the area.
Dell, who was also uninjured and cut short their expedition because of bad weather, said they were already planning their next kayaking trip although they would be taking more precautions next time.
The father and son were kayaking on the Straits of Magellan when the whale emerged
In astonishing scenes, the kayak disappears from the surface of the water
The incident was said to have occurred around 3pm local time on Saturday
Experts described the chances of being swallowed by a whale as ‘1-in-1 trillion’ after veteran US lobster diver Michael Packard ended up inside a humpback’s mouth for around 40 seconds off Provincetown, Massachusetts in June 2021.
It left him with nothing more than a dislocated knee after spitting him out.
He gave the thumbs-up from his Cape Cod hospital bed afterwards as he revealed he thought at first he had been attacked by a great white shark before ‘feeling around and realising there was no teeth.’
Michael, 45 at the time, added: ‘Then I realised: ‘Oh my God, I’m in a whale’s mouth and he’s trying to swallow me. This is it, I’m going die’
Admitting his thoughts turned to his wife and two boys then aged 12 and 15, he continued: ‘All of a sudden he went up to the surface and just erupted and started shaking his head.
‘I just got thrown in the air and landed in the water. I was free and I just floated there. I can’t believe I’m here to tell it.’
Humpback whales can grow to as long as 50ft and weigh about 36 tons. According to the World Wildlife Fund, their global population is about 60,000.
Experts described the chances of being swallowed by a whale as ‘1-in-1 trillion’
Dell, who was filming his son when the mammal breached the water, could be overheard telling his son: ‘Stay calm, stay calm, don’t get back into the boat, head for the shoreline, I’m coming’.
Dell, who was also uninjured and cut short their expedition because of bad weather, said they were already planning their next kayaking trip
They feed in polar waters and migrate to tropical or subtropical waters to breed and give birth. Their diet consists mostly of krill and small fish, and they usually use bubbles to catch prey.
Jooke Robbins, the director of Humpback Whale Studies at the Centre for Coastal Studies in Provincetown told The Cape Cod Times after the incident involving Mr Packard that it had most likely been an accident
She said that as humpback whales feed, their mouths open and billow out in a parachute-like manner, obstructing their vision.
Incidents of humpback whales injuring swimmers and divers are exceedingly rare, if not nonexistent, Ms Robbins said at the time, adding: ‘It is not something I have heard happening before’.
