A killer whale has killed a senior Sea World trainer while visitors looked on in the United States.
The trainer, who police confirmed was Dawn Brancheau, 40, was grabbed by the waist and thrashed around in the killer whale tank at Sea World's Orlando, Florida, park on Wednesday afternoon, local time, a witness told Florida television news channel Local 6.
A spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Office later told a news conference it appeared Ms Brancheau slipped and fell into the tank.
But a Sea World employee who asked not to be identified confirmed to CNN the description of the attack and added that the whale involved was named Tilikum, which means 'friend' in the Native American language Chinook.
"It is with great sadness that I report one of our most experienced trainers has drowned in an incident with one of our whales this afternoon," Sea World park manager Dan Brown said.
"We have never in the history of our parks experienced an incident like this and all of our standard operating procedures will be under review.
"Please bear with us, we've just lost a member of our family."
Orange County Fire Rescue spokesman said emergency services were called to the park just after 2pm (6am AEST today) and found a person dead.
Orange County Sheriff's office said it received reports an employee had been attacked in the "killer whale tank".
Sea World had not released the trainer's name but the Orlando Sentinel reported Ms Brancheau had been at the park since February 1994.
Witness Victoria Biniak told the station she saw the attack from a public viewing area and also said the whale's name was Tilikum, or Telly for short.
"The trainer was explaining different things about the whale and then the trainer that was down there walked away from the window," Ms Biniak said.
"Then Telly 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 (her) around.
"He was thrashing her around pretty good. It was violent."
Ms Biniak said the attack was violent enough for Ms Brancheau's shoe to fly off.
Brazilian tourist Joao Lucia De Costa Sobrinho and his girlfriend told the Orlando Sentinel they were at an underwater viewing area when they saw a whale with a person in its mouth.
Ms Blancheau was bleeding from the face or mouth and the whale turned her over and over as it swam, Mr Sobrinho said.
A Sea World spokeswoman told CNN the incident did not occur during a performance.
Visitors were evacuated form the area and the whale show was cancelled, but the park was not shut down, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Tilikum, a bull or male whale, was almost 30 years old and weighed five tonnes, Local 6 reported.
Ms Biniak said Tilikum did not usually have trainers in its tank because it was too big.
The whale has been involved in at least one other fatal incident.
Part time trainer Keltie Byrne, 20, drowned after slipping into Tilikum's tank at Canadian park Sealand of the Pacific in 1991.
An account of the incident published in a Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society book published a year later said Ms Byrne was dragged around the pool, mostly underwater, as Tilikum and two other killer whales played with her.
Tilikum was moved to Sea World following the incident.
In 1999, the body of a naked man was found, scratched and bruised, draped over Tilikum.
The man, Daniel Dukes, reportedly made his way past park security and remained in the park after it had closed.
He either jumped, fell or was pulled in, wearing only his underwear.
A People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) spokesman said the attack was "a tragedy that didn't have to happen".
"For years, PETA has been calling on Sea World to stop confining oceangoing mammals to an area that to them is like the size of a bathtub, and we have also been asking the park to stop forcing the animals to perform silly tricks over and over again," spokesman David Perle said.
"It’s not surprising when these huge, smart animals lash out."
Whale expert Nancy Black told Local 6 Tilikum could have been playing in the latest attack and did not intend to hurt the trainer.
"They are very intelligent creatures," Ms Black said.
"They have emotions, and feelings. Maybe it was unhappy in the situation, maybe it was bored."
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