Horrific scene was witnessed by the visitors SeaWorld Orlando in Florida, United States (U.S.). A dead whale trainer sunk by the animal in front of the audience.Dawn Brancheau was killed after the show "Dine with Shamu" featuring whales. 40-year-old woman had just finished performing with Tillikum session, SeaWorld whale is the largest and the only adult male whales.
A witness, Victoria Biniak, told Florida news source WKMG that the trainer was grabbed by an orca shortly after delivering a speech to an audience gathered for a public whale show. But a spokesperson for the Orlando County Sheriff's Office, Jim Solomons, said that it appeared the trainer had slipped or fallen into the tank, apparently contradicting Biniak's description. "This appears to be an accidental death, a tragic death," Solomons said.
The trainer was already dead when emergency personnel arrived, Orange County Fire Rescue spokesperson John Mulhall told WKMG. An investigation into her death is underway, and Brown said that "all of [SeaWorld's] standard operating procedures will be under review" in light of the incident.
The whale, identified by WKMG as a very large adult male named Tilikum, "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," Biniak told the station.
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