Humpback whale swallows and spits out Chilean man in Strait of Magellan

In the Strait of Magellan, a humpback whale swallowed and then spat out a 24-year-old Chilean man who was floating in an inflatable boat. His father was staying nearby and captured the incident on video.

According to El País, the incident took place on February 8 in the far south of Chile. The man first felt a blow to his back, which knocked him out of the boat. Then, he found himself inside a slimy cavity and felt a strong suction force. The Chilean couldn't understand what had happened until he was thrown back to the surface. It was reported that he was unharmed.

In an interview with the publication, the man admitted that during the incident, he remembered Pinocchio, who was also swallowed by a whale.

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The humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus Megaptera. Adults range in length from 14–17 m (46–56 ft) and weigh up to 40 metric tons (44 short tons). The humpback has a distinctive body shape, with long pectoral fins and tubercles on its head. It is known for breaching and other distinctive surface behaviors, making it popular with whale watchers. Males produce a complex song that typically lasts from 4 to 33 minutes. Found in oceans and seas around the world, humpback whales typically migrate up to 16,000 km (9,900 mi) each year.

The Strait of Magellan (Spanish: Estrecho de Magallanes), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and the Tierra del Fuego archipelago to the south. The strait is considered the most important natural passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The strait is approximately 570 km (310 nmi; 350 mi) long and 2 km (1.1 nmi; 1.2 mi) wide at its narrowest point. In 1520, the Spanish expedition of the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan, after whom the strait is named, became the first Europeans to discover it.