London: A female zookeeper was killed in a 'freak accident' on Monday in a suspected tiger attack in an animal enclosure.

Police said the unnamed woman died after a tiger "entered an enclosure with a keeper".

Witnesses recalled hearing screams and keepers desperately trying to distract tigers with pieces of meat as Bank Holiday visitors were evacuated from Hamerton Park Zoo in Cambridgeshire, north of London.

A statement from the zoo released on Monday evening said staff were too upset to talk because "one of our colleagues was killed in a freak accident".