A SeaWorld employee died this afternoon during an incident at SeaWorld’s Shamu Stadium

A SeaWorld employee died this afternoon during an incident at SeaWorld's Shamu Stadium

A SeaWorld employee died this afternoon during an incident at SeaWorld’s Shamu Stadium, following an incident this afternoon at the Killer Whale attack, an Orange County Sheriff’s Office official confirmed.

Neither SeaWorld, rescue personnel or the Sheriff’s Office are confirming the identity of the employee, although a local TV station is reporting that a female employee was killed after she was grabbed by one of the theme park’s whales at the start of a pusblic show.

Park guest Victoria Biniak told Local 6 that the trainer was a veteran of SeaWorld and had just finished explaining to the audience the show they were about to see.

At that point, Biniak said, the whale came up from the water and grabbed the woman. “He was thrashing her around pretty good. It was violent,'” Biniak told Local 6.

The whale “took off really fast in the tank, and then he came back, shot up in the air, grabbed the trainer by the waist and started thrashing around, and one of her shoes flew off.”

She said sirens went off and everyone was forced to leave the stadium. Guests were evacuated from the area. The park is not shut down.

Orange County Fire Rescue personnel arrived on scene within five minutes of receiving a 911 call for an unknown medical condition just prior to 2 p.m., a spokesman said. The woman was dead when rescue officials arrived. The Sheriff’s Office is on the scene.

Local 6 is reporting that the whale involved in the incident is named Tillikum, and that whale has been involved in at least one other incident at the park. SeaWorld officials will be briefing the media shortly.

Author: Paola