Dreamworld worker rushed to save people during fatal ride mishap
An inquest into the Dreamworld tragedy has heard one of the theme park’s workers went into “emergency mode” and tried to save people at the site of the ride, which claimed four lives.
One of the detectives giving evidence said Courtney Williams was at the unload area of the ride. She went into “emergency mode and assisted everyone she could” including Cindy Low’s son. Ms Low was one of the four who died but her son survived.
The court also heard Ms Williams was on the first week of her job and that she was previously told not to press an emergency button on the ride.
She is expected to give evidence on Tuesday along with other members of Dreamworld staff on the second day of the inquest into the October, 2016 tragedy.
The long-awaited inquest began on Monday in a packed Southport Coroners Court.
Cindy Low, Kate Goodchild, her brother Luke Dorsett and his partner Roozi Araghi all died instantly after being thrown from a raft when the Thunder River Rapids ride malfunctioned in October 2016.
Ms Goodchild’s 12-year-old daughter and Ms Low’s 10-year-old son were also thrown from the raft but survived.
The resumed on Tuesday with police forensic crash investigator Senior Constable Steven Cornish continuing to give evidence.
Snr Const Cornish told the inquest the ride lacked automatic safety features such as a water level sensor which would have prevented the tragedy.
He said the correct application of an emergency shutdown button at any time from the failure of a water pump until the rafts collided, would have also ensured no loss of life.
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The inquest had earlier heard the water pump had failed twice on the day of the tragedy, and there had been previous incidents involving rafts colliding on the 30-year-old ride since 2001.
“The potential for that to happen was always there,” Sen Const Cornish told the inquest.
“It was evident by the testing we did, that the rafts could become inverted.”
