**A killer whale has killed a 40-year-old female trainer at the SeaWorld marine park in Orlando, company president Dan Brown has said.**Eyewitnesses said the whale came up from the water and grabbed her by the waist, but officials dispute that account, suggesting she fell in.
Guests were evacuated while fire crews tried to rescue the woman, but they were unable to revive her.
Whale trainers at SeaWorld parks were also attacked in 2006 and 2004.
Wednesday’s incident took place at around 1400 local time (1900 GMT) inside Shamu Stadium.
“One of our most experienced animal trainers drowned in the incident,” Mr Brown said in a brief statement to the media. He said an investigation was under way.
Park guest Victoria Biniak told a local TV channel that the trainer had just finished explaining to the audience what they were about to see.
At that point, she said, the whale “took off really fast, and then he came back around to the glass, jumped up, grabbed the trainer by the waist and started shaking her violently. The last thing we saw was her shoe floating.”
However, officials say the trainer apparently fell into the tank whilst addressing an audience of guests, and was killed accidentally by the killer whale.
In November 2006 trainer Kenneth Peters was bitten and held underwater by a 7,000lb (3,000kg) female killer whale during a show at SeaWorld’s San Diego park. He escaped with a broken foot.
In 2004 another whale at the company’s San Antonio park attempted to bite a trainer, but he too escaped.