Adrián Simancas, swallowed by a humpback whale in Chile: ‘When I was inside it, I remembered Pinocchio’
The 24-year-old Venezuelan, who was sucked in and then expelled by the animal in Punta Arenas, says that, at first, he thought he had been eaten
The first thing Adrián Simancas Jaimes, a 24-year-old computer technician, felt before being swallowed by a humpback whale while he was canoeing with his father, Meydell, was a hard blow to his back, which knocked him off his inflatable kayak. He was then swallowed. He was inside a slimy cavity, he heard strange noises, he felt a strong suction, and he could not figure out what was happening until he was violently expelled. Back on the surface, he discovered that he had been in the entrails of the cetacean and his experience — which was recorded and broadcast on Wednesday — went viral on social media. “When I was inside it, I remembered Pinocchio, who was also swallowed by one,” he says, laughing in a telephone conversation.
The ordeal happened on Saturday, around 3:00 p.m., in the southern bay of the city of Punta Arenas, in the far south of Chile. Meydell, a 49-year-old anesthesiologist, shouted to his son: “Calm down, grab the boat! Don’t get in! Go to shore!” Meanwhile, the whale continued to jump out of the water near the young man, after having caught him for a few seconds. “It was a surprise when it came up close to me. At first, I thought it had swallowed me whole, although I didn’t really know what it was, and then, when I got back to the surface, I realized it was a whale. I also knew that there wasn’t that much danger, unless it started jumping or knocked my dad off his boat, because then it would be very difficult for us to get back to shore,” he explains.
Humpback whales, which can weigh up to 48 tons and measure 19 meters in length in the case of females, feed on plankton, plants, and fish. They have a small throat, which makes it difficult for a human body to reach their stomach. They rarely attack humans and are known for being one of longest-traveling species in the world.
Adrián emerged unharmed, and if it were not for the fact his father had recorded it, perhaps his story would be hard to believe. The young man says that for a few minutes he felt almost paralyzed by the fear of another attack and he didn’t know what to do, but his father managed to guide him. “I thought I was going to be swallowed to death, that I’d been eaten. When I came to the surface, I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to get back to shore. When my father came to me, I knew everything would be fine.”
The doctor has been canoeing for almost eight years, while his eldest son, Adrián, has been doing so since 2024. “We like sports and nature, ecology, and recycling. In other words, everything that connects with the environment.” Originally from a town in the state of Amazonas in southern Venezuela, bordering Colombia and Brazil, and mostly covered in jungle, they had become accustomed to outdoor sports, such as climbing hills, swimming in rivers, and cycling.
They continued these hobbies in Magallanes, where they have lived for some seven years. Adrian says that, despite being sucked in by the giant marine animal, they will not stop visiting the rivers and lagoons: “I’ll wait for better weather conditions, as winter is coming in a few months in Chile and it is really very harsh in the far south, and then I’ll go back to the water. That is, I will wait until next year to take up [canoeing] again.”
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