Woman critical after roller-coaster crash could take legal action against Melbourne Royal Show

The woman left with critical injuries after walking in front of a roller-coaster at the Melbourne Show could sue for “negligence”, her lawyer says.

The woman left with critical injuries after walking in front of a roller-coaster at the Melbourne Show could take legal action, her lawyer says.

Shylah Rodden, 26, is fighting for her life after being hit by the Rebel Coaster ride last Sunday night.

Graphic footage of the tragic incident, which was uploaded to TikTok, shows the moment Ms Rodden was struck by the ride, which can travel up to 70km/h.

The video shows that she was knocked down on the tracks and dragged nine metres into the air before plummeting to the ground.

Ms Rodden did not appear to notice the rollercoaster coming towards her.

Shylah Rodden, 26, was hit by a rollercoaster at the Royal Melbourne Show and suffered critical injuries.

Police say she had entered the track to retrieve a mobile phone that had been dropped during a previous ride.

While the 26-year-old fights for life in hospital with her family by her side, a lawyer representing her says legal action is possible.

Law firm Arnold, Thomas and Becker’s Aki Munir revealed the family has not ruled out pursuing legal avenues for compensation.

“We are investigating issuing proceedings against the Melbourne Show and the ride operator. It will be an action in negligence,” Ms Munir said.

The firm was already representing Ms Rodden in another claim relating to a transport accident in 2018 from which Ms Munir said she sustained “significant injuries”.

A writ was issued with the courts to preserve the family’s legal right to the claim in the event Ms Rodden does not recover from the latest incident.

“The purpose of filing the writ is to preserve her entitlements should anything happen to her,” Ms Munir said.

Shylah Rodden remains in a critical condition.

WorkSafe has determined the ride is safe and given approval for it to re-open.

The news follows video of the crash surfacing on social media. The man who unintentionally captured the moment Ms Rodden was struck by the roller-coaster says he is having trouble sleeping.

“All of a sudden, I saw someone getting taken up but at the same time I’m thinking ‘f***, my sister, my partner,” he told 7News.

“But you can see she’d bent down to pick something up. I don’t know if it was a phone or what, but she was so fixated on picking it up that she didn’t even see the ride at all.”

The footage was passed on to Victoria Police as part of their investigation.

A Melbourne Royal Show spokesperson said: “The safety and wellbeing of our visitors to the Show continues to be our number one priority.

“We uphold strict safety protocols in line with Victorian WorkSafe regulations and all rides on site have undergone stringent compliance inspections.

“No ride is turned on until it has passed all the required safety and compliance documentation.”

Show chief executive Brad Jenkins called the accident “tragic”.

“From our understanding, there was a mobile phone at the base of the Rebel Coaster that she dropped on the ride and she went back to recover the mobile phone,” he said.

“Regrettably, she was tragically struck by the cart coming down.”