Guests at SeaWorld Orlando watched in horror Wednesday as a killer whale fatally attacked a trainer who fell into the tank. The unidentified 40-year-old female trainer was explaining details of a frequently performed show at Shamu Stadium at 2 p.m. when she "apparently slipped or fell" into the water, says Orange County Fire Department spokesman John Mulhall.
Witness Victoria Biniak tells WKMG-TV the whale got a hold of the trainer's waist. "He was thrashing her around pretty good," Biniak says. "It was violent."
Paramedics were called to the theme park but could not revive the woman, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
"It is with great sadness that I report one of our most experienced trainers has drowned in an incident with one of our whales," park manager Dan Brown says, according to the WKMG.
Guests were evacuated, the sheriff's department secured the scene, and the park has been closed to the public.
The attack was by a whale named Tilikum, or "Telly" for short, a 30-year-old bull orca weighing 12,300 pounds. The cause was not immediately known.
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