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Zoo bosses have now confirmed a member of staff died on site this afternoon in a what was described as a “very serious incident”.

Police confirmed the woman was killed after a tiger entered the enclosure with her.

Cops and the air ambulance rushed to the park in Cambridgeshire but the woman died at the scene.

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Rumours were running rife the beast had escaped from its enclosure – but police confirmed these were untrue.

One stunned visitor Jessica Russell said "hell” broke loose at the zoo.

Another Chris Hubbard posted: "Police and air ambulance called to @HamertonZoo and guests are being cleared out. Hope everyone's okay."

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Cambridgeshire Police said: "Officers attended a serious incident at Hamerton Zoo Park, Steeple Gidding, at around 11.15am today.

"A tiger had entered an enclosure with a keeper.

"Sadly the female zoo keeper died at the scene. At no time did the animal escape from the enclosure.

"The incident is not believed to be suspicious."

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Shocked visitor Charlie Hawthorn, 18, described scenes of "chaos" as emergency crews arrived at the scene.

He told The Mirror: "When we were going into the zoo there were zookeepers came rushing over telling us there'd been a serious incident and everyone needed to get out.

"Then they actually let us back in for around 15 or 20 minutes before the zookeepers started running around in a bit more of a panic and saying everyone had to get out.

"There was one woman saying a teenage boy was missing and it was just absolute chaos. There were three ambulances, an air ambulance helicopter, police, it looked like a big incident.”

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A spokesman for the zoo said: “We are sorry but our staff are too distressed to speak directly to the media, as one of our colleagues was killed at Hamerton Zoo Park this morning. “This appears to have been a freak accident.

“A full investigation is under way and we hope that more details can be announced as soon as we are able. “At no point during the incident did any animals escape their enclosures, and at no point was public safety affected in any way.

“All our thoughts and sympathies are with our colleagues, friends and familes at this dreadful time.

“The park will be closed from tomorrow 30th May, and we will give more information as soon as we can.”

The incident comes one year after a gorilla dragged a four-year-old boy through a moat in his enclosure at a busy zoo in Cincinnati, Ohio, US.