Many were disturbed by the heartbreaking video that showed the unimaginable attack on Spanish orca trainer Alexis Martinez.

In the Canary Islands, the 28-year-old had been working with orcas at Loro Parque’s Orca Ocean.

On December 24, 2009, the orca Keto killed Alexis Martinez while they were rehearsing for a Christmas show.
Tragically, he passed away two months prior to Dawn Brancheau, a 14-year-old trainer, being attacked and killed by an orca.

Just weeks prior to the attack in which he was killed, Martinez expressed concerns about the killer whales’ behavior, according to his partner, Estefanía Luis Rodriguez. He told her that the whales were getting aggressive, disruptive, and disobedient.

Born in 1995 in a SeaWorld park, Keto is a 6,600-pound male killer whale that has never seen the ocean. Keto was on loan from SeaWorld to Loro Parque at the time of Martinez’s passing.

The trainer balanced on the killer whale as he emerged from the water during Martinez’s attempt at a stand-on spy hop, which led to the tragedy.
However, Keto leaned to one side, and another trainer claimed that the orca appeared to have placed himself between the stage and his trainer on purpose.

While other trainers employed controls that had consistently been successful with killer whales, Martinez was told to slim slowly to another pool, but Keto would not comply. Instead, he pushed Martinez to the bottom and played violently with his body using his rostrum, which is the tip of his beak or snout.

Although they eventually succeeded in regaining control of the orca and recovering Martinez’s body, he died as a result of severe wounds, including internal bleeding.

Orca trainer Alexis Martinez “died due to grave injuries sustained by an orca attack, including multiple compression fractures, tears to vital organs, and the bite marks of the animal on his body,” according to the post-mortem evaluation.

Following Martinez’s death, SeaWorld temporarily stopped in-water interactions with whales at three of its parks.