All Access. All in one subscription. From $2 per week
Subscribe now

All Access Weekly

From $2 per week
Pay just
$15.75
$2
per week ongoing
Subscribe now
BEST VALUE

All Access Annual

Pay just
$449
$49
per year ongoing
Subscribe now
Learn more
30
Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Dreamworld inquest: Previous fears raised about fatal ride

news.com.au
18 Jun, 2018 08:56 AM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
/
Duration 0:00
Loaded: 0%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time -0:00
 
1x
    • Chapters
    • descriptions off, selected
    • captions settings, opens captions settings dialog
    • captions off, selected

      This is a modal window.

      Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.

      Text
      Text Background
      Caption Area Background
      Font Size
      Text Edge Style
      Font Family

      End of dialog window.

      This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button.

      Autoplay in
      5
      Disable Autoplay
      Cancel Video
      In 2016 four people were killed on a ride at Dreamworld on the Australian Gold Coast including Cindy Low, originally from Kawerau. Now an inquest is investigating just why it happened.

      KEY POINTS:

      • 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

      A Dreamworld ride operator was unsure which emergency button to press to prevent the Thunder River Rapids ride tragedy, an inquest has heard.

      The principal police investigator has told a packed Southport Coroners Court the main control panel for the ride was confusing and the operator had previously been deterred from using an immediate shutdown button.

      On the opening day of the inquest into the October 25, 2016, tragedy that killed four people, including former Kawerau woman Cindy Low, the court also heard of a history of malfunctions on the Thunder River Rapids.

      Detective Sergeant Nicola Brown said the water pump on the ride at the Gold Coast theme park stopped working twice in the hours before the fatal accident.

      All Access. All in one subscription. From $2 per week
      Subscribe now

      All Access Weekly

      From $2 per week
      Pay just
      $15.75
      $2
      per week ongoing
      Subscribe now
      BEST VALUE

      All Access Annual

      Pay just
      $449
      $49
      per year ongoing
      Subscribe now
      Learn more
      30
      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.
      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.

      Brown said no engineering staff attended the second time, and that it was simply reset.

      Less than an hour later, the pump stopped working a third time, resulting in the water level near the unloading point of the ride to drop so rafts were no longer buoyant but were sitting on maintenance rails.

      A raft carrying six guests collided with an empty raft that was stuck on the rails, raising both into a vertical position.

      Kate Goodchild, Luke Dorsett and Roozbeh Araghi and Cindy Low died when they were thrown onto the conveyor belt mechanism. Goodchild's 12-year-old daughter and Low's 10-year-old son survived, despite also being thrown out of the raft.

      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.

      Dreamworld staff's safety fears

      The inquest was also told that if the two-second emergency stop button at the end of the ride had been pressed at any time before the rafts collided, the tragedy could have been avoided.

      An explosive first day of the inquest revealed staff were told not to use an emergency stop button and the ride had malfunctioned three times on the fatal day.

      "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.

      Discover more

      World

      Dreamworld inquest: The fatal 20 seconds after ride catastrophe

      19 Jun 01:43 AM
      World

      Dreamworld tragedy: Emergency button failed to stop ride

      19 Jun 11:09 PM
      World

      Dreamworld owner to be charged over 2016 deaths

      20 Jul 10:51 PM

      The tragedy unfolded when a raft became stuck on the conveyor belt 57 seconds before the fatal accident. The raft the four were travelling in hit the stuck raft and flipped them onto the conveyor belt.

      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.

      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.

      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.

      Brown praised the response to the investigation from the ride operators working at the time as "quite well done", but the police struggled to get information from Dreamworld.

      Dreamworld provided all the information requested but in a format that made it difficult to decipher and determine which documents were relevant.

      Third pump failure the killer

      It was a bombshell morning in court, after it was also revealed the faulty pump malfunctioned three times on the day of the tragedy and an earlier failure had provided a stark warning.

      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 led to the raft flipping and killing Goodchild, Dorsett and Araghi and Low.

      L-R: Kate Goodchild, Roozi Araghi and Luke Dorsett also died on the Thunder River Rapids ride. Photos / AP
      L-R: Kate Goodchild, Roozi Araghi and Luke Dorsett also died on the Thunder River Rapids ride. Photos / AP
      Cindy Low, originally from Kawerau, died on the Dreamworld river ride. Photo / File
      Cindy Low, originally from Kawerau, died on the Dreamworld river ride. Photo / File

      Brown told the inquest the pump failed at 11.50am and then again at 1.09pm before being reset.

      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.

      No injuries or damage happened in either failure.

      Brown said the first breakdown was at 11.09am. She said engineers determined there was an "earth fault" in the south pump and reset it.

      "There's no evidence any engineering staff attended the second incident," Brown said.

      "Nothing else seems to have been done apart from resetting the pump."

      Brown said the third failure just after 2pm resulted in the water level near the unloading point of the ride dropping "significantly and quite quickly".

      The pumps could each provide up to 4000 litres of water a second.

      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.

      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.

      The court heard the ride had a long history of malfunctions, including in January 2001 when several empty rafts collided and flipped over during a dry run before the facility was opened to the public.

      "I shudder when I think if there had been guests on that ride," said counsel assisting Ken Fleming QC, quoting an email between Dreamworld staff after the 2001 malfunction.

      Brown said raft collisions in 2004 and 2005 prompted recommendations including the installation of CCTV of the unloading area.

      She said few, if any, of those recommendations appeared to be acted upon.

      Forensic crash investigator Senior Constable Steven Cornish said 20 tests by police - one of which was played in court - showed a raft lift slightly upwards meaning force on the back of the raft could flip it.

      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.

      He said there was other evidence a raft could tip.

      "The potential for that to happen was always there."

      He said when the crash occurred, the conveyor belt would have been moving the rafts at 77cm a second or 2.7km/h.

      Save

        Share this article

      Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

      Rotorua Daily Post

      Desert Rd reopens six hours after fatal crash

      07 Jun 06:35 AM
      Rotorua Daily Post

      Regional councillor Toi Iti seeks Doug Leeder's seat

      06 Jun 10:00 PM
      Rotorua Daily Post

      'Bums in the air': Homeless in CBD 'pee' on cars, accused of doing drugs

      06 Jun 06:00 PM

      Why Cambridge is the new home of future-focused design

      sponsored
      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.
      Recommended for you
      'Dwindling faster': NZ's falling gas supply bad news for householders
      New Zealand

      'Dwindling faster': NZ's falling gas supply bad news for householders

      07 Jun 10:20 PM
      Watch: Fox gets creative, takes share of lead in Canada
      Golf

      Watch: Fox gets creative, takes share of lead in Canada

      07 Jun 10:02 PM
      'This is the perfect food': Comvita founder on honey's healing journey
      Bay of Plenty Times

      'This is the perfect food': Comvita founder on honey's healing journey

      07 Jun 10:00 PM
      'It was different' Kayaking great on the end of remarkable 16 year streak
      Sport

      'It was different' Kayaking great on the end of remarkable 16 year streak

      07 Jun 10:00 PM
      Manhunt expands for US dad accused of killing his three daughters
      World

      Manhunt expands for US dad accused of killing his three daughters

      07 Jun 09:46 PM

      Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

      Desert Rd reopens six hours after fatal crash

      Desert Rd reopens six hours after fatal crash

      07 Jun 06:35 AM

      Police thanked motorists for their patience during the afternoon closure.

      Regional councillor Toi Iti seeks Doug Leeder's seat

      Regional councillor Toi Iti seeks Doug Leeder's seat

      06 Jun 10:00 PM
      'Bums in the air': Homeless in CBD 'pee' on cars, accused of doing drugs

      'Bums in the air': Homeless in CBD 'pee' on cars, accused of doing drugs

      06 Jun 06:00 PM
      'Unsafe levels': Toxic gas concern closes events centre office

      'Unsafe levels': Toxic gas concern closes events centre office

      06 Jun 07:00 AM
      Clean water fuelling Pacific futures
      sponsored

      Clean water fuelling Pacific futures

      NZ Herald
      • About NZ Herald
      • Meet the journalists
      • Newsletters
      • Classifieds
      • Help & support
      • Contact us
      • House rules
      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms of use
      • Competition terms & conditions
      • Our use of AI
      Subscriber Services
      • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
      • Manage your print subscription
      • Manage your digital subscription
      • Subscribe to Herald Premium
      • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
      • Gift a subscription
      • Subscriber FAQs
      • Subscription terms & conditions
      • Promotions and subscriber benefits
      NZME Network
      • Rotorua Daily Post
      • The New Zealand Herald
      • The Northland Age
      • The Northern Advocate
      • Waikato Herald
      • Bay of Plenty Times
      • Hawke's Bay Today
      • Whanganui Chronicle
      • Viva
      • NZ Listener
      • What the Actual
      • Newstalk ZB
      • BusinessDesk
      • OneRoof
      • Driven CarGuide
      • iHeart Radio
      • Restaurant Hub
      NZME
      • About NZME
      • NZME careers
      • Advertise with NZME
      • Digital self-service advertising
      • Book your classified ad
      • Photo sales
      • NZME Events
      • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
      All Access. All in one subscription. From $2 per week
      Subscribe now

      All Access Weekly

      From $2 per week
      Pay just
      $15.75
      $2
      per week ongoing
      Subscribe now
      BEST VALUE

      All Access Annual

      Pay just
      $449
      $49
      per year ongoing
      Subscribe now
      Learn more
      30
      TOP
      search by queryly Advanced Search