so, what's obvious is that the orca pulled the trainer down and brought him back up before he drowned. i'm not buying that it's an accident. but, if the orca wanted to kill him, he'd be dead - he was brought back up to save his life. so, the orca's trying to get something across.

it's interesting to contemplate what the orca may have been thinking. it could be punishment, for some other behaviour - but it's clear that it was meant to teach a lesson, not to create actual harm. is it possible that he may have accidentally blocked the orca's breathing hole and the orca is responding tit-for-tat?

maybe it's more likely that it's a display of dominance, with the orca trying to show the trainer who the boss is and produce a level of submission. cetaceans are often friendly towards humans, but they're very dominant animals.

a more intriguing possibility is that the orca may have been doing an experiment. does the orca understand it's being studied? might it be curious as to just how long a human can hold it's breath or what happens when it gets submerged?

it may also have cetaceanomorphized the human. could it have dragged the human under wanting to interact in the water, thinking the human can hold it's breath for long periods, and at the last minute realized the human is struggling and needs to breathe, and so brought him back up?

all interesting questions.

but it's quite obvious that the orca very consciously pulled this guy down, and very carefully brought him back up so he wouldn't drown.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EhqM7Q82sw