SeaWorld trainer killed by killer whale

ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 24 (UPI) -- A killer whale launched a fatal attack on a trainer Wednesday in front of an audience at SeaWorld in Florida, officials said.

The show at Shamu Stadium was halted and the audience removed, the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel reported. The park remained open.

The Orange County Sheriff's Office said the trainer, identified as Dawn Brancheau, 40, was dead by the time rescue workers arrived.

Dan Brown, vice president and general manager of SeaWorld Orlando, said the matter would be investigated, CNN reported.

"We've never in the history of our parks experienced an incident like this," Brown said. "All standard operating procedures will be reviewed."

Victoria Biniak, who was watching the show, told WKMG-TV in Orlando the trainer was a woman. The TV station identified the whale as Tillikum or Tilly.

"The trainer was explaining different things about the whale and then the trainer that was down there walked away from the window. Then Tilly took off really fast in the tank and he came back, shot up in the air, grabbed the trainer by the waist and started thrashing around," Biniak said.

Tillikum was sold to SeaWorld in 1992, the Sentinel said. In 1991 the whale was involved in drowning a trainer at Sealand of the Pacific in British Columbia.

In 1999 park employees found the body of a homeless man on the whale's back. Investigators determined the man probably drowned after becoming hypothermic in the chilly water and that the whale attacked his body, believing it was a toy.