Sea World Trainer killed

ORLANDO, Fla. -- SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau killed in Shamu attack Wednesday and thrashed the woman around underwater, killing her in front of a horrified audience. It marked the third time the animal had been involved in a human death.

Distraught audience members were hustled out of the arena immediately, and the park was closed. Trainer Dawn Brancheau, 40, was one of the park's most experienced. It wasn't clear if she drowned or died from the thrashing.

Victoria Biniak, of Clermont, spoke with Matt Lauer and said the attack happened in an underwater viewing area, and SeaWorld workers quickly took action.

A former contractor with SeaWorld told the Orlando Sentinel that the whale, Tilikum, is typically kept isolated from SeaWorld's other killer whales and that SeaWorld trainers weren't allowed to go into the water with him because of his violent history.

There were conflicting accounts of the attack. The sheriff's office said Brancheau slipped or fell under the whale's tank, but at least one witness said the animal leaped from the water and dragged the woman in.

Wednesday's attack was the second time in two months that a SeaWorld trainer was killed. On Dec. 24, 29-year-old Alexis Martinez Hernandez fell from a whale and beat out his ribcage at Loro Parque on the Spanish island of Tenerife. Park officials said the whale, a 14-year-old named Keto, made an unusual move as the two practiced a trick in which the whale lifts the trainer and leaps into the air.