Accidents at theme parks don’t happen often but when they do they can be truly horrific. Even the tamest of rides can be deathtraps if the proper safety precautions aren’t taken and unfortunately, that is exactly what happened to four theme parkgoers riding a river rapids ride at Dreamworld in Australia.
The gruesome tragedy occurred in October of 2016 when a Thunder River Rapids raft carrying six passengers collided with another raft which was empty. While the two children on board were lucky enough to be thrown to safety, their mothers and two other passengers weren’t so fortunate.
How did the incident at Dreamworld even happen?
One of the ride’s water pumps had stopped working correctly meaning the water levels were much lower than they were supposed to be. As per an article from the Mirror, a raft carrying Kate Goodchild, Luke Dorsett, Roozbeh Araghi, Cindy Low and two children collided with another raft that had gotten stuck on the conveyor belt which was supposed to carry them back up. The raft had become trapped in position due to the low water.
The second raft then flipped 90 degrees, throwing the passengers out. While the two children were able to get themselves to safety the adults fell onto the conveyor belt and died “almost instantly” as they were crushed by the machinery.
Multiple paramedic crews responded to the accident and arrived on scene to recover the “severely disfigured” bodies. It took until the following morning to recover the victims. One of the first responders confessed that they were still haunted by what they saw a year on from the accident as per the Daily Mail.
The aftermath
The accident is regarded as one of the worst theme park accidents in Australian history. Afterwards, the park was scheduled to re-open a mere three days after the accident but police were still treating it as a crime scene. The Thunder River Rapids was ultimately shut down and a memorial was created in its stead.
In 2020, the coroner’s report was released and it detailed the “irresponsible”, “dangerous” and “inadequate” safety practices which led to the terrible accident. The company that runs Dreamworld, Ardent Leisure, accepted responsibility for the disaster and three charges were brought against it. The company also received a fine of $3.6 million Australian dollars for breaching the Work Health and Safety Act. Additionally, Ardent Leisure paid out $2.1 million as part of a settlement with the family of one of the victims.
All in all more than $5 million in compensation was paid out to the victims families, first responders and witnesses.
