Punta Arenas, Chile, February 14: A humpback whale briefly swallowed a kayaker off Chilean Patagonia before quickly releasing him unharmed. The incident, caught on camera, quickly went viral. Last Saturday, Adriån Simancas was kayaking with his father, Dell, in Bahía El Águila near the San Isidro Lighthouse in the Strait of Magellan when a humpback whale surfaced, engulfing Adriån and his yellow kayak for a few seconds before letting him go.

Dell, just metres (yards) away, captured the moment on video while encouraging his son to stay calm. “Stay calm, stay calm,” he can be heard saying after his son was released from the whale's mouth. “I thought I was dead,” Adrián told The Associated Press. “I thought it had eaten me, that it had swallowed me.” He described the “terror” of those few seconds and explained that his real fear set in only after resurfacing, fearing that the huge animal would hurt his father or that he would perish in the frigid waters. Humpback Whales Caught Having Sex: First-Ever Sighting of Whales Indulging in Sexual Activities - And They Were Both Male.

Despite the terrifying experience, Dell remained focused, filming and reassuring his son while grappling with his own worry. “When I came up and started floating, I was scared that something might happen to my father too, that we wouldn't reach the shore in time, or that I would get hypothermia,” Adrián said. After a few seconds in the water, Adrián managed to reach his father's kayak and was quickly assisted. Despite the scare, both returned to shore uninjured.

Located about 1,600 miles (3,000 kilometers) south of Santiago, Chile's capital, the Strait of Magellan is a major tourist attraction in the Chilean Patagonia, known for adventure activities. Its frigid waters pose a challenge for sailors, swimmers and explorers who attempt to cross it in different ways. Although it's summer in the Southern Hemisphere, temperatures in the region remain cool, with minimums dropping to 39 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius) and highs rarely exceeding 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius.) Sex Journey: Male Humpback Whale Travels Over 13,000 Km Across 3 Oceans in Search of Sex, Sets New Distance Record for Species

A Humpback Whale Briefly Swallows Kayaker in Chilean Patagonia

While whale attacks on humans are extremely rare in Chilean waters, whale deaths from collisions with cargo ships have increased in recent years, and strandings have become a recurring issue in the last decade.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)