SourceORLANDO, Fla.— A killer whale killed a SeaWorld Orlando trainer who slipped or fell in its tank Wednesday, drowning her in front of a horrified audience.
Dan Brown, president of the Orlando park, said the trainer was one of the park's most experienced.
He would not answer questions about whether it happened during a performance, but an audience member said a show was just starting.
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," Victoria Biniak told WKMG-TV.
Jim Solomons of the Orlando County Sheriff's Office, said the trainer slipped or fell into the whale's tank, which seemed to contradict Biniak's description.
"This appears to be an accidental death, a tragic death," said Solomons.
Neither Brown nor Solomons would release the trainer's name. The park is investigating, and Mike Wald, a spokesman for the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration office in Atlanta, said his agency has dispatched an investigator from Tampa.
The guests were asked to leave and the park was closed.

