A kayaker has told of his brush with death after being swallowed by a humpback whale off the Chilean coast.
Adrian Simancas was paddling in the Strait of Magellan when the massive mammal surfaced and engulfed his yellow kayak, with the heart-stopping moment captured on camera by his father.
"I thought I was dead. I thought it had eaten me, that it had swallowed me," said the 24-year-old, who was released by the whale after several terrifying seconds.
Despite his father's attempts to calm him, Simancas feared he might still perish in the freezing 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."
Both father and son managed to paddle safely to shore following last Saturday's ordeal in Patagonia, some 1,600 miles from Santiago.
The Strait of Magellan, where the incident occurred, is a popular tourist destination known for its whale-watching opportunities.
