A killer¹ whale has killed a 40-year-old female trainer at the SeaWorld marine² park in Orlando, Florida.

美国佛罗里达州奥兰多海底世界一头逆戟鲸杀死一名40岁的女驯兽员。

Tilikum has been involved in two previous deaths

Officials described the incident as an accident, saying the woman fell in the water, but witnesses said the whale jumped up and grabbed her by the waist.

Guests were evacuated³（疏散） while fire crews tried to rescue the woman, but they were unable to revive（苏醒，复活） her.

The killer whale - called Tilikum - was also involved in the death of a trainer in Canada in 1991, reports said.

Other whales were also said to have attacked trainers at Sea World parks in 2006 and 2004.

Conflicting accounts

Wednesday's incident took place at around 1400 local time (1900 GMT) inside Shamu（杀人鲸） 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 investigation⁴ was under way.

Jim Solomons, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Office, said the trainer "apparently⁵ slipped or fell" into the tank, but that it was too early to tell if she was attacked by the whale.

"There is no sense of foul⁶ play（严重犯规，不正当行为） . Right now this appears to be an accident," said Mr Solomons.

The official account differed from that of eyewitnesses⁷.

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."

Another male audience member gave CNN a similar version of events.

The entertainment park, known for its killer whale, seal and dolphin displays, was closed after the incident. SeaWorld in San Diego also suspended its killer whale show.