Dawn Brancheau Video

Dawn Brancheau Video, A family in the United States claims its video shows the final moments before Tilikum the orca struck (see footage, right).

Grisly new details have emerged over how Tilikum - already linked to two other human deaths since 1991 - grabbed his veteran trainer by her ponytail and dragged her down into his tank without warning.

Dawn Brancheau The Orange County Medical Examiner has determined that 40-year-old Brancheau most likely died from multiple traumatic injuries and drowning after one of the park's killer whales pulled her into a pool behind Shamu Stadium, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said.

Earlier, Ms Brancheau’s supervisor confirmed the killer whale, named Tilikum, dragged the trainer underwater by her ponytail.

"What we have found out is that Dawn had just finished up a very good session with this animal ... She was interacting with him, petting him on the nose," Chuck Tompkins, who is also curator of zoological operations at SeaWorld Orlando, told ABC’s Good Morning America.

"Dawn had very long hair in a ponytail. That ponytail had swung in front of him. He grabbed her by the hair and pulled her underwater and held her underwater," Mr Tompkins said.

Mr Tompkins added that a second trainer nearby confirmed that Brancheau was grabbed right after her ponytail swung in front of killer whale.

The sheriff’s office said in a statement that rescuers were not able to immediately jump in and render assistance to Brancheau due to the whale's aggressive nature.

The trainer was recovered from the whale by SeaWorld staff members after the animal was coaxed into a smaller pool and lifted out of the water by a large platform that lay on the bottom of the smaller tank.

In a grim twist, the smaller pool was apparently the same spot where the naked body of Daniel Dukes was found draped dead over Tilikum's back in July 1999 after the man sneaked into SeaWorld after hours to swim with the animals.

First responders to the accident scene at the stadium believed that the victim had somehow slipped or fell into the orca's pool, the sheriff’s office said.

However, after witness statements were taken and reviewed by homicide investigators, it became apparent that the whale had, in fact, pulled Brancheau into the pool.

Before the attack, trainers had not been allowed in the water with Tilikum, and only about half of the park’s trainers were cleared to work with him.