Dreamworld tragedy inquest: Thunder River Rapids ride malfunctioned three times on day of fatal incident
A FORENSIC crash investigator has told the Dreamworld inquest there was always potential for the rafts of the Thunder River Rapids Ride to flip. It comes during an explosive first day of the inquest where it was revealed staff were told not to use an emergency stop button and the ride had malfunctioned three times on the fatal day.
Crime and Court
Don't miss out on the headlines from Crime and Court. Followed categories will be added to My News.
‘Potential was ‘always there’ for rafts to flip — forensic investigator
Ride malfunctioned three times on fatal day
2001 warning: ‘I shudder to think if there’d been a guest on the ride’
Operators told not to use emergency stop button
The code engineers used to describe malfunction revealed
THEME PARK TRAGEDY ‘PREVENTABLE’
A FORENSIC crash investigator has told the Dreamworld inquest there was always potential for the rafts of the Thunder River Rapids Ride to flip.
Forensic crash investigator Senior Constable Steven Cornish said: “There was potential for that to happen was always there.”
Snr Const. Cornish said while the more than 20 tests conducted by police did not get a raft to flip it did show there was the potential for the raft to invert.
He said the testing showed a raft lift slightly upwards meaning force on the back of the raft could produce a flip.
He said there was other evidence a tip could happen.
DREAMWORLD STAFF’S SAFETY FEARS
“There is wear strips on the sides of the raft and sharp edges (on wooden planks),” he said.
The inquest was also told that if the two-second emergency stop button located at the end of the ride had been pressed at any time before the rafts collided, the tragedy could have been avoided.
“If it was pressed in that 30 seconds would it have made a difference?” barrister Steven Whybrow asked.
Sen-Const Cornish said: “Yes.”
“They (the rafts) touch three times, before they get to that point... If it (the button) had been depressed at any time this would have avoided the tragedy,” he said.
POLICE REVEAL CODE WORD USED TO DESCRIBE MALFUNCTION
POLICE have revealed the code word Dreamworld engineers used to describe the Thunder River Rapids malfunction in the days after four people were killed in the tragedy.
It comes during an explosive first day of the inquest where it was revealed staff were told not to use an emergency stop button and the ride had malfunctioned three times on the fatal day.
“EARTH fault” was the code engineers at Dreamworld gave to the sudden malfunctions in the south pump of the Thunder River Rapids Ride, a court has heard.
Forensic Crash investigator Senior Constable Steven Cornish said what “earth fault” meant was never fully explained to him by the Dreamworld engineers.
YOUNG GIRL’S BRAVERY AFTER TRAGEDY
“The ‘earth fault’ was the code they used at the time for the electrical malfunction,” he said.
The south pump failed in the days leading up to the fatal accident on October 25, 2016 and twice on that day.
A third failure on that day lead to the raft flipping and killing Kate Goodchild, Luke Dorsett and Roozbeh Araghi and Cindy Low.
Snr Const. Cornish said police tried more than 20 times to replicate the circumstances which caused the incident.
One of the tests was played via video to the court and Snr Const. Cornish was asked if he could see the raft lift in the background.
“Yes and that’s my voice in the background,” he said.
Snr Const. Cornish said engineers also told him the pumps could each provide up to 4000 litres of water per second.
He said when the crash occurred, the conveyor belt would have been moving the rafts at 77cm per second or 2.7km/hr.
The court heard the flipping of the raft also damaged wooden planks near the conveyor where the raft flipped.
“There was damage to some of the wood planks,” Snr Const. Cornish said
“There was debris wedged within the planks.”
Snr Const. Cornish said some of the planks were also bowed, meaning they could have caught on the rubber parts of the raft.
‘DON’T WORRY ABOUT THAT BUTTON, NO ONE USES IT’:
DREAMWORLD ride operators manning the Thunder River Rapids ride where four people died were told ‘don’t worry about that (emergency) button, no one uses it’, a coronial inquest has been told today.
Detective Sergeant Nicole Brown told Southport Coroner’s Court today the ride operator closest to the emergency stop button was told to disregard it despite it being the only way to immediately stop the conveyor belt after the raft carrying Kate Goodchild, Luke Dorsett, Roozbeh Araghi and Cindy Low flipped, trapping them.
A memo sent to all staff informed operators not to use the button.
“The button must only be pressed in the event the main control panel cannot be reached,” the memo read.
The button could stop the conveyor belt in less than two seconds, whereas the main control panel would stop the conveyor belt in seven seconds.
The tragedy unfolded when a raft became stuck on the conveyor belt 57 seconds before the fatal accident.
Sgt Brown tells the court the ride operator closest to the only emergency stop button was told “don’t worry about that button, no one uses itâ€. The button was the only button which could stop the conveyor belt quickly. #Dreamworld
— Lea Emery (@leae) June 18, 2018
The raft the four were travelling in, hit the stuck raft and flipped them onto the conveyor belt.
Detective Sergeant Nicola Brown told the inquest the ride operator who was near the only emergency stop button did not know what it was for.
She said the operator was told: “Don’t worry about that button, no one uses it.”
The ride operator was not aware the button could stop the conveyor belt in two seconds.
Sgt Brown said the main control panel was also “confusing” and it was not clear which button stopped the ride immediately.
The control panel only had a “slow stop” of the conveyor belt.
Sgt Brown also told the court the response from the ride operators working at the time had been “quite well done”.
Sgt Brown tells the court people in the raft behind the flipped raft rushed to the aid of those in front. Dreamworld employee Courtney Williams helped get one of the children to safety.
— Lea Emery (@leae) June 18, 2018
She said the ability of police to gather information from Dreamworld “could’ve perhaps been better”.
Sgt Brown said Dreamworld provided all the information requested but the format it was in made it difficult to decipher and determine which documents were relevant.
The revelations come after a bombshell morning in court where it was also revealed the faulty pump malfunctioned three times on the day of the tragedy and an earlier incident had provided a stark warning.
FAULTY PUMP BROKE THREE TIMES ON FATAL DAY
THE faulty pump which contributed to the ride tragedy at Dreamworld had broken down twice in the hours before the fatal incident on October 25, 2016.
Principal investigator of the tragedy, Detective Sergeant Nicola Brown, said the first breakdown was at 11.09am that morning.
Sgt Brown: It was the third breakdown of the south pump on that day. The first was at 11.50am and the conveyor belt was stopped. #Dreamworld
— Lea Emery (@leae) June 18, 2018
FIRST RESPONDER’S MESSAGE TO DREAMWORLD FAMILIES
She said engineers determined there was an “earth fault” in the south pump and reset it.
Hours later at 1.09pm, the pump failed the same way again and was again reset.
Less than an hour later the pump failed for a third time at 2.03pm, contributing to the fatal flipping of raft five.
Sgt Brown said the failure of the pump, one of the two main ones in the area, meant the rafts got stuck on safety rails, causing them to flip.
Det Sgt Nicola Brown is describing how the tragedy occurred. One of the two large pumps failed. She said that meant the rafts were not boyant enough and got stuck on support rails. Rafts do not usually touch the supports.
— Lea Emery (@leae) June 18, 2018
‘I SHUDDER TO THINK IF THERE’D BEEN A GUEST ON THE RIDE’
It comes as Dreamworld staff had raised safety concerns about the Thunder River Rapids Ride after a “number” of incidents on the ride, the Southport Coroner’s Court has heard.
Counsel assisting the coroner Ken Fleming said one incident included three rafts getting stuck resulting in a raft flipping years before the October 25, 2016 fatalities.
A 2001 internal email about the incident read: “I shudder when I think if there had been guest on the ride.”
SAFETY AUDIT EXPOSED ‘SERIOUS SAFETY CONCERNS’
A SAFETY audit conducted parkwide at Dreamworld months before the fatal accident on the Thunder River Rapids Ride revealed the theme park was suffering serious safety concerns, a court has heard.
Principal investigator of the ride tragedy Detective Sergeant Nicola Brown said an early 2016 safety audit found the park had a rating of 41.7 per cent.
“We are talking generally about the safety of the park, not the one ride,” she said.
She said anything above 75 per cent was considered a pass.
Sgt Brown told the Southport Coroners Court the report produced did not have any relevant information to the Thunder River Rapids Ride.
The court also heard the ride did not have an emergency stop button which disabled all of the components of the ride.
Sgt Brown said a second stop button brought the conveyor belt to a stop, but took seven seconds to completely stop.
She said safety audits had previously recommended a single emergency stop button be installed.
RIDE OPERATOR SAVES LIFE OF VICTIM’S SON:
A YOUNG ride operator who was on shift on the day of the Dreamworld tragedy saved Cindy Low’s 10-year-old son Kieran from the raft that tipped into the water.
Ms Low, 42, was at the theme park with her 10-year-old son Kieran, six-year-old daughter and her husband Mathew on the day she died.
Ms Low and Kieran were on the Thunder River Rapids ride when it malfunctioned.
Detective Sergeant Nicola Brown told the inquest ride operator Courtney Williams was in the unload area when she realised the water level had dropped and signalled there had been an operational problem.
A security guard viewing the CCTV of the ride upgraded the incident to a more serious alert.
“Once the incident had unfolded, (Courtney) went into emergency mode and assisted everyone she could, including Kieran out of the ride,” Det Sgt Brown said.
RIDE SAFETY ADVICE IGNORED BEFORE TRAGEDY:
RECOMMENDATIONS to install CCTV at the unload area of the Thunder River Rapids ride were never put in place, despite being made more than a decade before the fatal accident.
Lead investigator in the criminal investigation into the Dreamworld tragedy, Detective Sergeant Nicola Brown, told the inquest after a 2001 incident where two rafts crashed into each other, there was an internal investigation undertaken that recommended CCTV be placed at the unload area of the ride.
The CCTV was never installed, the inquest heard.
Det Sgt Brown also told the court there had been a recommendation in 1999 that an emergency stop button that shut off rides immediately — rather than taking seven seconds to shut down — be installed.
“The 1999 recommendation of positive energy stop didn’t happen then or even later,” Mr Fleming asked.
“No,” Det Sgt Brown said.
She also told the court there was no evidence engineering staff attended the ride the second time the Thunder River Rapids malfunctioned on the day it killed four people in 2016.
“There is no evidence any engineering staff attended the second incident,” Det Sgt Brown said.
The court heard there was no evidence anything else was done other than resetting the pump, about an hour before the fatal accident.
Det Sgt Brown also told the inquest there was nothing on the ride that could measure water levels or shut off the ride if the level became too low.
HOW THE INQUEST WILL RUN
Mr Fleming said the inquest would find out how such a tragedy could have happened and prevent it from happening again.
Mr Fleming also told the coroner how the tragedy on October 25, 2016 unfolded with the south pump failing, causing a massive drop in water which lead to the rafts getting stuck and the one flipping.
Kate Goodchild, Luke Dorsett, Roozbeh Araghi and Cindy Low were all killed instantly when the raft flipped trapping them.
Two children were thrown free and pulled to safety by onlookers.
GET FULL DIGITAL ACCESS FOR 50C A DAY
He said the events on that day affected people across the country.
“It’s not an exaggeration to say this has been felt Australia wide,” he said.
Mr Fleming thanked the families of the four victims for attending the inquest.
“We understand this will have an emotional toll to them,” he said.
The inquest is expected to run for two weeks.
Vicious public assault ‘could not be stopped’
A man who "couldn't be stopped" when he grabbed his partner by the hair and dragged her 100m through a Gold Coast shopping centre car park has now faced court over two dozen charges.
‘I’m not going to promise you anything’
A mother facing a string of drug offences was perhaps too honest with a magistrate yesterday after she initially couldn’t guarantee being on her best behaviour.