美海洋世界一名女馴鯨員被虎鯨咬死
A killer whale at SeaWorld Orlando jumped out of its tank on Wednesday and fatally attacked a worker as horrified visitors looked on.
The 40-year-old woman was in the whale holding area when the whale suddenly jumped from the water, grabbed the trainer around the waist and "thrashed her all around" to the point the trainer's shoe fell off, Victoria Biniak, a guest at the park, told the local WKMG-TV.
"He was thrashing her around pretty good," Miss Biniak said. "It was violent."
Miss Biniak said the 30-year-old, 12,300-pound bull orca, named Tilikum, or Telly for short, does not typically have a trainer in its tank because it is too large.
Paramedics rushed to the Shamu Stadium at the theme park resort in Florida, but they were not able to revive the worker, said John Mulhall, a spokesman for the Orange County Fire Department.
The guests were evacuated and the park was closed.
Dan Brown, president of SeaWorld Orlando, said officials were investigating what appeared to be an accident. Mr Brown says SeaWorld has never experienced an incident like this.
But there have been several previous attacks on whale trainers at SeaWorld parks.
In Nov 2006, Kenneth Peters, 39, was bitten and held underwater several times by a 7,000-pound (3,175-kilogram) 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 tried to hit one of the trainers and attempted to bite him, but the man was able to escape.
In December, a whale drowned a trainer at a Spanish zoo.
本週三，美國奧蘭多海洋世界的一頭虎鯨突然從水池中跳出，將一名馴鯨員咬傷致死，讓現場圍觀的遊客驚恐不已。
當天在海洋世界遊玩的遊客維多利亞•比尼阿克告訴當地電視臺WKMG-TV說，當時，那名40歲的女馴鯨員正在鯨魚池旁，此時這頭鯨魚突然從水中躍出，一口咬住她的腰，然後“將她在空中猛甩”，她的一隻鞋都被甩掉了。
比尼阿克小姐說：“鯨魚非常猛地將馴鯨員在空中甩動，場面非常恐怖。”
據比尼亞克介紹，這頭名爲蒂利克姆（簡稱“特利”）的雄虎鯨今年30歲、體重達1.23萬磅，由於體積太大，它其實並沒有專門的馴良員。
橘子郡消防急救中心的發言人約翰•馬爾霍爾稱，當醫療人員趕到這家佛羅里達州主題公園的沙姆表演館時，馴鯨員已停止呼吸。
隨後海洋世界被緊急關閉，遊客也被疏散。
奧蘭多海洋世界的總裁丹•布朗稱，有關方面正對這起意外事故展開調查。他還稱，海洋世界從未發生過這樣的慘劇。
但此前，各地的海洋世界已發生過多起鯨魚襲擊馴鯨員的事件。
2006年11月，39歲的馴鯨員肯尼斯•彼得斯在表演中被一頭體重達7千磅（合3175公斤）的虎鯨咬傷，並被多次拖入水中。最後他在被咬傷一隻腳後僥倖逃脫。
2004年，聖安東尼奧海洋世界的一頭鯨魚試圖襲咬一名馴鯨員，但這名馴鯨員最終得以逃脫。
當年12月，西班牙一家動物園的一名馴鯨員被一頭鯨魚拖入水中活活淹死。
Vocabulary:
killer whale：虎鯨，又稱殺人鯨
thrash：to beat as if with a flail（激烈扭動，連續擊打）
orca：虎鯨
paramedic:a person who is trained to give emergency medical treatment or to assist physicians in providing medical care（醫療急救人員）
