A killer whale has dragged a trainer to her death during a public performance at the SeaWorld amusement park in Florida. Skip related content
"She was rubbing the killer whale's head, and (it) grabbed her and pulled her in," said Chuck Tompkins, Corporate Curator of Zoological Operations at SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment.
Seconds after the incident, sirens went off and SeaWorld employees rushed in to evacuate the audience.
"We don't know what was going through the killer whale's head. It just got done doing a wonderful session with Dawn... his behavior was great ... that's the reason that she was rubbing his head," Mr Tompkins said.
Dan Brown, president of SeaWorld Orlando, said Ms Brancheau was one of the park's most experienced trainers having worked there for 16 years, and said she drowned.
The Orlando Sentinel said the whale has a controversial past.
Tillikum, known as 'Tilly' was blamed for the drowning of one of his trainers in 1991 while he was performing at Sealand of the Pacific in Victoria, British Columbia, the newspaper said.
Authorities said the man, who had either snuck into SeaWorld after it had shut or hidden until past closing time probably drowned after suffering hypothermia in the water.
A former SeaWorld employee told the Sentinel Tillikum is usually kept apart from the other whales and trainers are not allowed to get into the water with him because of his past.
