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.
A Thunder River Rapids Ride operator was terminated from Dreamworld after two rafts collided on the conveyor almost two years before the disaster, an inquest has heard.
No one was injured in the November 2014 incident which saw the man fired almost two years before the terrifying tragedy which killedfour people.
The inquest is examining the terrifying incident on October 25, 2016 when, after a pump stopped working on the Thunder River Rapids Ride, the water levels dropped and a raft got stuck on a conveyor, the Gold Coast Bulletin reports.
That boat was hit by a raft carrying Kate Goodchild, her daughter Ebony, 12, Luke Dorsett, Roozbeh Araghi, Cindy Low and her son, Kieran, 10. Their raft flipped and two adults were trapped while the other two adults fell out.
Barrister Steven Whybrow, acting for the families of Goodchild and Dorsett, this morning read from the employee's termination letter.
The letter said after a pump shut down on the ride, "a raft containing guests has bottomed out at the top of the conveyor due to water supply".
The Thunder River Rapids Ride at Dreamworld Gold Coast.
"An additional raft containing guests has then collided with it and continued to be pushed by the conveyor until it was shut down," Whybrow read from the letter.
Ride operator Chloe Brix, who has worked on the Thunder River Rapids Ride since 2013, said operators were never told about the incident or debriefed on safety procedures following the 2014 incident.
After the second breakdown, ride operator Sarah Cotter told Robertson the situation was "ridiculous" and questioned what could be done about the problem pump.
Robertson told her that the ride would be shut down "if it happens again", the inquest was told.
Electrician did not attend second failure of south pump
An electrician did not attend the second failure of the south pump on the day of the Thunder River Rapids Ride disaster, the Dreamworld inquest has heard.
Robertson has told the inquest it was the usual practice for a mechanic and electrician to be rostered on each day as park technicians.
One the day of the disaster, which killed four people when a water pump failed just after 2pm on October 25, 2016, two mechanics had been rostered on to attend any breakdowns that day.
The disaster occurred after the south pump failed for the third time that day.
