Disaster a matter of just seconds

IT took 20 critical seconds for the conveyor belt to stop after a raft flipped on the Thunder River Rapids Ride, killing four people, the Dreamworld inquiry has heard.

The flipping led to the horrific deaths of Kate Goodchild, Luke Dorestt, Roozi Araghi and Cindy Low.

Forensic crash investigator Senior Constable Steven Cornish said there were about 10 seconds between the rafts first colliding and the slower emergency stop button being pressed.

The police officer said he had watched the harrowing CCTV footage more than 1000 times to work out what happened in the moments leading up the raft flipping.

He said he made the determination on when the button was pressed by the “cadence” of the conveyor and when it stopped.

The rafts first collided at 2.05.03pm on October 25, 2018 and the conveyor belt on the ride did not come to a complete stop until 2.05.22pm – almost 20 seconds after the first collision.

“It looks like it wasn’t pressed until the raft was inverted,” SenConst Cornish said.

Under cross examination by barrister for Luke Dorsett’s family, Robert Davis, the forensic crash officer said it was a “hypothesis” but after analysis of the CCTV and testing the cadence of the ride slowing down, it appeared the button was pushed just after 2.05.13pm, about 10 seconds after the two rafts collided.

“If the button was pushed it was done 10 seconds after the contact of the two rafts?” Mr Davis asked. “Yes,” Sen-Const Cornish said. “Six seconds after Ms Goodchild fell out asked.

“Yes,” Sen-Const Cornish said. “Four seconds after Mr Dorsett fell out of the raft?” Mr Davis asked.

“Yes,” Sen-Const Cornish said. The officer told the inquiry that if the emergency stop button, which would have stopped the ride in two seconds, had been pressed, injuries to the four people who died could have been “limited”.

Sen-Const Cornish told the inquest all the operational components of the Thunder River Rapids Ride were working as they were meant to on the day of the accident in 2016.

But he said the south pump had failed twice that morning, creating what Dreamworld referred to as a “code six”.

The inquest heard police and investigators were never able to completely replicate the flipping of a raft in testing after the fatal incident.

“It would grab some of the rubber and let go,” Sen-Const Cornish said of planks on the side of the channel grabbing the rafts.

He said it was the south pump’s third failure at 2.03pm that caused the water levels to drop, leading to one raft becoming stuck and the second raft to hit it and flip to a vertical position.

Ride operator Peter Nemeth told the inquest yesterday he had been working the Giant Drop and Tower of Terror the morning of the fatalities before being moved to the Thunder River Rapids Ride after his lunch break.

He said he had a brief chat with his supervisor as they passed each other on his way to man the ride.

“I was told the pump had been down twice and if it had happened once more we would have to stop the ride for the day,” he said. of the raft?” Mr Davis

A “code six” was called when a ride malfunctioned and needed attention from engineers.

Mr Nemeth told the inquest it was the first time he had been made aware rides would be shut down after multiple breakdowns during the day.

The experienced ride operator, who now works at WhiteWater World, started off working on the Big Red Car ride for kids in 2012.

He said during his time there it was not uncommon for there to be five or six “code six” calls during the day when he worked on the Big Red Car ride.

Mr Nemeth did not detail what those code six calls entailed.

He told the inquiry the Thunder River Rapids Ride was made more difficult by the noise from music, the

pumps and the queues of people.

“(The Thunder River Rapids ride) was the most stressful out of all the rides,” he said.

“There were much more things to look out for.”

The experienced operator had first started with the park in 2012 after working as a courier.

It was his first job where he had to operate heavy machinery.

Mr Nemeth said he was responsible for doing three monthly safety audits and presenting his findings to management.

He said he had been trained by the person who did the audits before him.

“I would do all the rides by myself unless the operator was there at the time and I would ask what they think of this and what they think of that,” he said.

Mr Nemeth said he no longer operated any Dreamworld rides, but worked at WhiteWater World.

He said Ardent Leisure was “very good to work for” and had a “very good culture”.

The inquest will continue today.