Latest news with #AdriánSimancas
Yahoo
16-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Kayaker Swallowed by Whale Details Inside of Creature's Mouth
Originally appeared on E! Online Call him Adrián, who was swallowed by a whale and lived to tell the tale. Adrián Simancas was kayaking off the coast of southern Chile with his dad Dell Simancas earlier this month when giant humpback whale surfaced and briefly caught him—and his kayak—in its mouth before spitting him out, unharmed. The 24-year-old's father had filmed the incident and the video has gone viral. In a new interview, Adrián described what it was like being scooped up inside the creature's mouth, nothing that he didn't know at first that it was a whale. "Suddenly, I felt like, a wave struck me from behind," he told CNN in an interview released Feb. 13. "But it was very, very heavy to be anything like that. So when I turned around, I saw some blue, dark colors and white flashing right through my face and I felt a slimy texture in my cheek. And then it shut down on me and took me underwater." More from E! Online How Elon Musk's Daughter Vivian Learned He Fathered More Kids SNL 50 Red Carpet Fashion: See Every Celebrity Arrive (Live Updates) BAFTA Film Awards 2025: See the Complete Winners List (Live Updates) Adrián said he guessed he was "inside something's mouth" but didn't know it was a whale. And the experience brought to mind a certain Disney film. "It was just a second but it felt like more time because I was thinking a lot of stuff. I remembered about Pinocchio," he said, referring to the 1940 animated film, which sees its hero swallowed by a giant sperm whale named Monstro. "It was surprising. I wasn't expecting that at all." Adrián said he could have lost his life had he been swallowed by a different creature. "At first, I thought that I would die because there's nothing I can do if I am inside the mouth of a giant fish. But it was a whale," he said. "So I didn't have enough time to realize that I was not in danger." These incidents involving humpback whales are rare. In 2021, American lobster diver Michael Packard was swallowed briefly by one as well. 'All of a sudden, I felt this huge shove and the next thing I knew it was completely black," he told the Cape Cod Times. "I could sense I was moving, and I could feel the whale squeezing with the muscles in his mouth." He said that after less than a minute of being in pitch blackness, "I saw light, and he started throwing his head side to side, and the next thing I knew I was outside." Ultimately, it is scientifically impossible for a humpback whale to fully swallow a human, although it can easily fit one inside its huge mouth, which can reach around 10 feet, according to Nicola Hodgins of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation, a U.K. nonprofit. The reason? A humpback's throat is roughly the size of a human fist, she told National Geographic in 2021, and can only stretch to about 15 inches in diameter. For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App
Yahoo
15-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
‘I closed my eyes to brace for impact': the man who escaped a whale's mouth
Adrián Simancas had been paddling for two hours in the calm but icy seas of the Strait of Magellan, off the coast of Chilean Patagonia, when something massive emerged from the water and dragged him under. 'I saw dark blue and white colours before feeling a slimy texture brush against my face,' the 24-year-old told the Guardian. 'I closed my eyes to brace for impact, but it was soft, like being hit by a wave.' In an incredibly rare turn of events, Simancas had been sucked entirely into the mouth of a humpback whale. He closed his eyes and held his breath. 'When its mouth closed around me and pulled me down, I felt like I was in a whirlpool, lying down and spinning around,'he said. For a few fleeting moments, his fate was in the jaws of the 40-tonne cetacean. 'If it had eaten me, I would've died. There was nothing I could do about it.' The terrifying ordeal lasted only a few seconds. Before he knew it, Simancas felt himself being pulled up to the surface by his lifejacket. Unhurt but shocked, he called for his father, who was paddling alongside him – and who had captured the incident on the 360-degree camera mounted to his raft. The video has since gone viral, prompting a wave of global commentary playfully comparing Simancas to figures including Pinocchio and Jonah. But it has also fuelled some misinformation about whale behaviour, causing concern within the scientific community. 'Humpback whales have a small oesophagus and feed on small prey (small fish, krill), so they could not 'devour' or 'swallow' a human,' said María José Pérez Álvarez, a marine biologist at Universidad de Chile and Base Millennium Institute. She added that humpback whales do not have teeth, but rather brush-like plates they use to trap and filter their prey. 'It could not have bitten him either,' she said. Although Simancas was unharmed, Pérez Álvarez cautions that human-whale interactions should be avoided at all costs: 'A humpback whale is around 18 metres long. It could have hit him hard with some part of its body, even if unintentionally, and the person could have been injured.' Kayakers in the area have also urged caution. Guillermo Meza operates a company specialising in kayaking tours and worries that Simancas had been too far out at sea. 'I would never have gone that far into the open sea on an inflatable raft,' he said. He also warned that the two men had been far too close to the whale. 'We advise maintaining distances of more than 100 metres, and if they get close to us, we stay completely still,' he said. Chilean law stipulates that legal sighting distances must be at least 100 metres from any whale. Simancas and his father are both wildlife and outdoor enthusiasts, and Simancas maintains that neither saw the whale nor intentionally approached it. 'The sea was very calm. We were reaching the end of the bay when the whale appeared,' he said. 'I didn't see any schools of fish or any type of strange movements. The whale lunged from behind. It was a total surprise.' Simancas has practised pack rafting for about a year. The inflatable raft folds into a portable backpack, allowing him to combine trekking with rafting, traversing both sea and land. Celebrating the father's birthday, the duo had started their journey at Fin de Camino, which marks the end of the road on the continent, and one of the southernmost places in the world. Their planned route combined rafting and trekking to a small island. As one of Simancas's paddles had been damaged in the whale encounter, they turned back and navigated their way home by holding their rafts together, with one manning the left and the other in charge of the right paddle. Simancas says that the experience has left him with a deeper respect for nature, and that he will take even greater safety precautions in future – namely, staying closer to the shoreline. 'I felt blessed with a second chance to review the mistakes that led me to be there – not just in the expedition, but in life itself,' he says. But he won't be going on any more rafting adventures this season: 'I'll wait until next year.'
The Guardian
15-02-2025
- Science
- The Guardian
‘I closed my eyes to brace for impact': the man who escaped a whale's mouth
Adrián Simancas had been paddling for two hours in the calm but icy seas of the Strait of Magellan, off the coast of Chilean Patagonia, when something massive emerged from the water and dragged him under. 'I saw dark blue and white colours before feeling a slimy texture brush against my face,' the 24-year-old told the Guardian. 'I closed my eyes to brace for impact, but it was soft, like being hit by a wave.' In an incredibly rare turn of events, Simancas had been sucked entirely into the mouth of a humpback whale. He closed his eyes and held his breath. 'When its mouth closed around me and pulled me down, I felt like I was in a whirlpool, lying down and spinning around,'he said. For a few fleeting moments, his fate was in the jaws of the 40-tonne cetacean. 'If it had eaten me, I would've died. There was nothing I could do about it.' The terrifying ordeal lasted only a few seconds. Before he knew it, Simancas felt himself being pulled up to the surface by his lifejacket. Unhurt but shocked, he called for his father, who was paddling alongside him – and who had captured the incident on the 360-degree camera mounted to his raft. The video has since gone viral, prompting a wave of global commentary playfully comparing Simancas to figures including Pinocchio and Jonah. But it has also fuelled some misinformation about whale behaviour, causing concern within the scientific community. 'Humpback whales have a small oesophagus and feed on small prey (small fish, krill), so they could not 'devour' or 'swallow' a human,' said María José Pérez Álvarez, a marine biologist at Universidad de Chile and Base Millennium Institute. She added that humpback whales do not have teeth, but rather brush-like plates they use to trap and filter their prey. 'It could not have bitten him either,' she said. Although Simancas was unharmed, Pérez Álvarez cautions that human-whale interactions should be avoided at all costs: 'A humpback whale is around 18 metres long. It could have hit him hard with some part of its body, even if unintentionally, and the person could have been injured.' Kayakers in the area have also urged caution. Guillermo Meza operates a company specialising in kayaking tours and worries that Simancas had been too far out at sea. 'I would never have gone that far into the open sea on an inflatable raft,' he said. He also warned that the two men had been far too close to the whale. 'We advise maintaining distances of more than 100 metres, and if they get close to us, we stay completely still,' he said. Chilean law stipulates that legal sighting distances must be at least 100 metres from any whale. Simancas and his father are both wildlife and outdoor enthusiasts, and Simancas maintains that neither saw the whale nor intentionally approached it. 'The sea was very calm. We were reaching the end of the bay when the whale appeared,' he said. 'I didn't see any schools of fish or any type of strange movements. The whale lunged from behind. It was a total surprise.' Simancas has practised pack rafting for about a year. The inflatable raft folds into a portable backpack, allowing him to combine trekking with rafting, traversing both sea and land. Celebrating the father's birthday, the duo had started their journey at Fin de Camino, which marks the end of the road on the continent, and one of the southernmost places in the world. Their planned route combined rafting and trekking to a small island. As one of Simancas's paddles had been damaged in the whale encounter, they turned back and navigated their way home by holding their rafts together, with one manning the left and the other in charge of the right paddle. Simancas says that the experience has left him with a deeper respect for nature, and that he will take even greater safety precautions in future – namely, staying closer to the shoreline. 'I felt blessed with a second chance to review the mistakes that led me to be there – not just in the expedition, but in life itself,' he says. But he won't be going on any more rafting adventures this season: 'I'll wait until next year.'
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Yahoo
Watch: Kayaker gets swallowed by whale
The Brief A kayaker thought he was dead after being briefly swallowed by a humpback whale. His father caught the biblical moment on camera. Dramatic video shows the moment a humpback whale briefly swallowed a kayaker in the Strait of Magellan. Last Saturday, Adrián 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, swallowing Adrián and his yellow kayak for a few seconds before letting him go. His father, just yards away, filmed the biblical moment while encouraging his son to stay calm. What they're saying "Stay calm, stay calm," he can be heard saying after his son was released from the whale's mouth. His son did appear to remain calm, but he thought that was the end of his life. RELATED: 'F--- this!' Terrified kayaker stalked by great white shark "I thought I was dead," Adrián told The Associated Press. "I thought it had eaten me, that it had swallowed me." Those terrifying few seconds weren't the worst of his fears: When he resurfaced, his first thought was that the huge animal would hurt his father or that he would perish in the frigid waters. "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. His father continued filming, but he repeatedly reassured his son that all would be OK. After a few seconds in the water, Adrián managed to reach his father's kayak and was quickly assisted. Both returned to shore uninjured. Local perspective Located about 1,600 miles south of Santiago, Chile, 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. RELATED: Watch: Deep-sea anglerfish's rare swim in shallow waters Although it's summer in the Southern Hemisphere, temperatures in the region remain cool, with minimums dropping to 39 degrees Fahrenheit and highs rarely exceeding 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Dig deeper 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 Source This report includes information from Storyful and The Associated Press.
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Humpback Whale Swallows Kayaker Before Spitting Him Out in Viral Video
Originally appeared on E! Online The ocean can be a terrifying place. That thought became a reality on Feb. 8 when kayaker Adrián Simancas was paddling off the coast of Chile and a humpback whale suddenly breached the surface and swallowed him whole. In footage captured by his dad Dell, the whale caught Adrián in its mouth and took him below the surface for a few seconds before he miraculously emerged unharmed. 'At first I thought I had died,' Adrián told the Associated Press in an interview published Feb. 13. 'I thought it had already eaten me and swallowed me. It was, of course, a lot of terror because I thought there was nothing I could do.' But as the Chilean native tread water, guided by his dad's encouragement to remain calm, Adrián's fear wasn't just for his own safety. 'When I came up and started floating,' he continued, '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.' More from E! Online Carrie Underwood Is Not Okay in Tear-Filled American Idol First Look Elon Musk's Ex Grimes Speaks Out After He Brings Their Son, 4, to White House Press Conference Are Kanye West and Wife Bianca Censori Breaking Up? His Rep Says... After the horrifying incident in the Strait of Magellan, the kayaker reflected on the thoughts he had during the attack. 'I felt that maybe it was a killer whale,' he explained. 'We had been talking about orcas shortly before, so I had that in my head. But when I got out I understood that it was probably out of curiosity that the whale had approached me or maybe to communicate something.' A humpback whale briefly swallowed a kayaker off Chilean Patagonia before quickly releasing him unharmed. The Associated Press (@AP) February 13, 2025 While Adrián's story is certainly harrowing, he's not the only one who experienced a whale encounter in recent years. Since 2019, there have been about 700 run-ins with orcas near the Iberian Peninsula resulting in the sinking of six boats, according to Atlantic Orca Working Group-GTOA scientists that monitor the species, per NBC News. 'Of course they can sink you,' fisherman Manuel Merianda told the news organization in September. 'We are the ones who are in their habitat. We are the ones who don't have to be there.' (E! and NBC News are both part of the NBCUniversal family.) For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App
