Sea World whale kills trainer in Orlando

• Source: Xinhua
• [13:17 February 25 2010]
• Comments

Killer whale. Photo: Xinhua

A killer whale attacked and killed an experienced trainer at a Sea World show on Wednesday in Orlando, US

The victim Dawn Brancheau, 40, was one of the veteran trainers of the park, Sea World spokesman Fred Jacobs said.

Jacobs also confirmed that the killer whale, called Tilikkum, was involved in two other previous deadly whale attacks in 1991 and 1999.

The show was just starting when the whale ''took off really fast in the tank, and then he came back, shot up in the air, grabbed the trainer by the waist and started thrashing around, and one of her shoes flew off," an audience member Victoria Biniak told WKMG-TV.

But another witness said the trainer slipped or fell into the whale's tank, which seemed to contradict Biniak's description.

So far, it's not clear exactly how the attacked trainer died.