Who is Jessica Radcliffe? 23-yr-old marine trainer in the viral Orca attack video everyone's talking about
The circulating video alleges that 23-year-old marine trainer Jessica Radcliffe was attacked by an orca during a live performance. The disturbing clip appears to show a woman underwater, being pulled along by a killer whale. It further claims she died 10 minutes after being rescued by staff.
The video created rage on TikTok (banned in India) and Facebook. Some posts go as far as to suggest that the attack was triggered when menstrual blood mixed with the water.
However, there is no credible evidence that cam prove that the incident ever occurred, and the footage appears to be AI-generated. Also an HT.com report clainmed that there is no records of a marine trainer named Jessica Radcliffe or any such incident, suggesting that she is likely a fictional character.
Although this orca attack report is false, there have been previous cases where trainers were killed by orcas, most famously the Dawn Brancheau incident.
In 2010, Tilikum, the orca, killed the senior trainer during a SeaWorld show in Orlando. Dawn's death was featured in the 2013 documentary Blackfish, which showed the ethics of confining large mammals, the HT report noted.
A year prior to his accident, Alexis Martinez, a Spanish trainer, was killed after an orca named Keto bumped into him during a rehearsal.
Meanwhile, in 1991, a Canadian trainer was also killed when three orcas dragged him underwater.
(With inputs from HT,com)
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