Drone camera gets swallowed up in monster Portugal wave

Unseen footage has emerged showing the moment a drone camera gets wiped out by a truly monster wave while filming a professional surfer up close during one of the biggest swells of the season.

In the previously unseen footage, filmed on January 18, 32-year-old German Sebastian Steudtner catches one of the biggest waves of the season at Praia do Norte beach near Nazar'e, Portugal.

Local drone camera team M'aquina Voadora - Produc~oes captured Steudtner attempting to ride the wave and his subsequent recovery up close, flying at very low altitude.

So low in fact that the team almost lost their drone in the process as it gets swallowed up in a monster wave.

This swell originated from a North Atlantic storm and produced some of the biggest and heaviest waves the town has seen in years, reaching the 80ft mark on January 18.

Praia do Norte beach has become famous for huge waves since Hawaiian surfer Garrett McNamara set a then-record in 2011 for the largest wave ever surfed, when he rode a 78-foot wave.