Husband 'traumatised' after watching wife die in ride tragedy
A Canberra father watched on helplessly as the Dreamworld Thunder River Rapids ride carrying his wife and young daughter flipped in a fatal malfunction.
David Goodchild was holding his eight-month-old baby when he saw his wife Kate get pulled under the water where she and three other adults were killed.
He emptied his pockets and rushed to the tragic scene still unfolding before him.
But there was nothing he could to save his wife.
Mr Goodchild later comforted his 12-year-old girl while emergency services drained the water from the Dreamworld ride in attempt to pull the four bodies out.
That the girl and and another boy managed to survive the accident has been described as a divine providence.
A day after the tragedy, Mr Goodchild's father Graham told News Corp his son was too distraught to talk about what had happened.
He has taken his two girls home to Canberra to prepare funeral arrangements for their mother.
After being thrown from the six-seater ride, Mr Goodchild's daughter and a 10-year-old boy desperately swam to safety while the other victims were "caught in machinery", police said.
The boy's father Mathew Low was elsewhere in the park when the tragedy unfolded, but reportedly rushed to the scene. But his wife was already dead.
The two families did not know one other before boarding the ride.
Kate Goodchild, 32, was killed along with her brother Luke Dorsett, 35, his partner Roozbeh Araghi, 38, and a 42-year-old mother Cindy Low, when their raft collided with another on Tuesday afternoon, tipping backwards.
Queensland Police assistant commissioner Brian Codd told reporters on Wednesday "from what I've seen, almost a miracle that anybody came out of that" as claims emerged that safety concerns had been raised at Dreamworld last year.
"If we're going to be thankful for anything, I'm thankful for that."
Asked how the two young children survived, Comm Codd said it must have been "through the providence of God".
“The fortunate thing here is the two children managed to escape that disaster, and unfortunately the four adults did not,” he said.
He said it had been "absolutely traumatic" for the children who were now being cared for by family, as floral tributes were laid outside Australia's largest theme park, which is hugely popular with domestic and overseas tourists.
"We are just devastated, absolutely devastated," the girl's grandmother Kim Dorsett told the Courier-Mail.
"I have three children and have lost two of them - my whole family has been wiped out."
Queensland Ambulance officials said on Tuesday the ride, marketed as a family-friendly thrill, malfunctioned. Comm Codd stressed a thorough investigation was underway to find out what went wrong.
"We owe it to the deceased and their families, we owe it to the community of Queensland to get to the bottom of what caused this... but most particularly ensuring that this can never happen again," he said.
Thirty detectives were at the scene with rafts taken away by a forensic team.
"There will be a broad range of things examined - policies, procedures, maintenance schedules and the actual, I guess, the make-up of the whole ride itself in terms of compliance about contemporary engineering," Codd said.
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'Gold Coast is safe'
Ben Swan, the Queensland secretary of the Australian Workers Union, said the organisation voiced serious concerns about the operation and maintenance of some equipment at Dreamworld last year, although not the Thunder River Rapids ride.
"I don't want to inflame the situation," he told the ABC.
"However, we do think that in the interests of workers at that facility, but also to the patrons of that facility... it is important there is a full inquiry."
The Australian newspaper reported that a series of mechanical problems were plaguing the water ride hours before the accident.
Codd said he was aware of the reports and added: "I would imagine that would be an important area of interest for the coroner".
The Gold Coast, which hosts the Commonwealth Games in 2018, is a major tourist destination and Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk pleaded with holidaymakers not to turn their backs on the area.
"The Gold Coast is safe," she told the 7 News.
"Please don't alter your holiday plans. Please continue to show your support. We will get to the bottom of this."
A representative from Dreamworld, which opened in 1981 and has more than 40 rides and attractions, said in a statement late Tuesday its whole team was "devastated and shocked".
"We are working closely with the authorities to understand exactly what occurred."
The park was closed on Wednesday and will again be shut on Thursday before reopening for a "Memorial Day" on Friday at 11am with entry proceeds going to the Red Cross.
Entry fee of $25 will be matched by Dreamworld and donated to the charity.
"Activities will be limited to smaller rides, animal attractions, and the water park," the park said in a statement.
The entrance to the park has become a makeshift shrine, with locals dropping off flowers and wreaths in memory of the four tourists who lost their lives.
