A young kayaker has cheated death after being swallowed whole and then spat out by a humpback whale.
Adrian Simancas vanished in front of his anguished father as the pair paddled in choppy waters off the city of Punta Arenas in southern Chile.
In a remarkable scene caught on camera, a huge whale emerged from the deep, opened its jaws and gulped down the 24-year-old and his inflatable kayak.
Mr Simancas was then flung into the sea as he was spat out, before following instructions from his father to move away and head towards the shoreline.
Mr Simancas, who was unharmed and didn't need any medical treatment, told a Chilean TV programme: "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."
His father Dell, 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."
The near-tragedy occurred around 3pm local time last 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.
Both father and son were using inflatable kayaks they had been carrying in rucksacks during a previous trek on dry land.
The humpback whale is thought to have confused Adrian with one of the fish that forms part of its normal diet.
Dell, who was filming his son when the mammal breached the water, could be overheard telling his son: "Stay calm, don't get back into the boat, head for the shoreline, I'm coming."
As he paddled towards him the whale disappeared from view. He urged his son: "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, said they were already planning their next kayaking trip although they would be taking more precautions next time.
Experts described the chances of being swallowed by a whale as "1-in-1 trillion" after Michael Packard, a veteran US lobster diver, ended up inside a humpback's mouth for around 40 seconds off Provincetown, Massachusetts, in June 2021.
It left Mr Packard with nothing more than a dislocated knee after spitting him out.
He gave the thumbs-up from his Cape Cod hospital bed as he revealed he thought at first he had been attacked by a great white shark before "feeling around and realising there were no teeth".
Mr Packard, 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.
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 non-existent, Ms Robbins said at the time, adding: "It is not something I have heard happening before."