Two kayakers in California escaped being crushed to death after a breaching humpback whale landed on top of them.
Capt. Michael Sack of Sanctuary Cruises witnessed the incident near Monterey Bay's Moss Landing Harbor on Saturday. He told local news station KSBW that the tandem kayakers were paddling through a large pod of feeding whales.
A passenger on Sack's ship was filming (video below) when one of the whales -- which can weigh between 50,000 and 80,000 pounds and measure up to 60 feet in length -- sprung from the water and landed on the unsuspecting kayakers.
"The kayak! Where's the kayak?" one woman can be heard saying, as others continue to cheer.
"He knocked it over!" another passenger says.
After being thrown overboard, the man and woman managed to make it safely back to shore with the help of other kayakers in the area. Sack said the two were lucky to avoid a direct hit from the animal's massive body, as it could have proven fatal.
"Kayak whale watching can be extremely dangerous," he wrote on his website. "And one should realize that humpback whales are wild animals and totally unpredictable. It’s a very uncontrolled environment out there."
According to the video's description, the whales were swimming right up to many of the kayakers there that day. "It's all fun and games until someone gets jumped on," Sack wrote. "That was heavy."
Below is the full video, captured by Sanctuary Cruises passenger Larry Plants:
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