Killer whale drags trainer to death at SeaWorld as visitors watch
SeaWorld trainer dragged underwater and drowned by killer whale in front of crowd of visitors to park
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By Matt Hallam. |  |
Thursday, 25, Feb 2010 09:47
By Matthew Champion.
An experienced SeaWorld trainer was yesterday dragged underwater and drowned by a killer whale in front of a crowd of visitors to the park.
Dawn Brancheau, 40, was reportedly grabbed by the waist and shaken violently by the 12,000lbs male orca Tillikum, which killed a trainer while at Sealand in British Columbia in 1991.
Police said Ms Brancheau, who has 14 years of experience at SeaWorld in Florida, had died after falling into the killer whale's pool, but eyewitnesses described a more violent scene.
"The whale apparently was upset and pulled the trainer into the water and was thrashing around," said Gary Biniak, one of about 50 visitors to the park who were watching Ms Brancheau feed the whale.
"He dragged her underneath the water and wouldn't let her up.
"The force with which the woman was pulled into the water pulled her shoes off. It was terrible."
A tearful park manager Dan Brown at Shamu Stadium in Orlando said in a statement: "It's with great sadness that I report one of our most experienced trainers drowned in an incident with one of our killer whales."
Mr Brown did not elaborate on Tillikum's fate.