Officer’s distress at nightmare footage
THE Dreamworld security officer who made the triple0 call the day of the Thunder River Rapids Ride tragedy had to watch the horrific CCTV footage of the incident numerous times, the inquest into the disaster heard.
Security officer Nigel Irwin said it was “distressing” taking police through the footage that showed four people dying.
“I obviously had police come and take over the control room … every officer wanted to see the footage. Every senior officer wanted to see the same thing,” Mr Irwin said.
“I watched it numerous times and forwards, backwards and the same thing. It was quite distressing.”
The security officer was working in the theme park’s control room overseeing operations for the day, including 500 CCTV cameras, and sending staff where needed.
The second day of the second round of inquest hearings into the tragedy also heard yesterday:
● Two statements from Australian Workers Union members were struck out;
● The Thunder River Rapids Ride was certified as mechanically sound eight days before the disaster;
● Junior engineer Gen Cruz believed he was the only tertiary qualified engineer at the park.
The inquest is examining what happened after a pump stopped working on the ride, causing water levels to drop and a raft to become stuck on the conveyor belt on October 25, 2016.
That raft was hit by another carrying Luke Dorsett, his sister Kate Goodchild, her daughter Ebony, 12, Roozbeh Araghi, Cindy Low and her son, Kieran, 10.
The four adults were killed. The children escaped uninjured.
Mr Irwin said in a statement shown to the inquest he received a panicked call from another staff member just after 2pm.
“I’ve got a raft on the conveyor,” the staff member told him before hanging up.
Mr Irwin told the inquest he sent staff to check it out and then escalated the call to a mechanical emergency after he saw on CCTV cameras the raft was stuck.
He also called triple-0 before he knew the extent of the tragedy.
A transcript of the call shown to the inquests showed Mr Irwin relaying what he saw to the ambulance communications.
“There was one person on the conveyor and one unconscious turning blue,” he said.
He told the officer there were at least two people who needed help and asked for more multiple paramedic crews to be sent.
Coroner James McDougall yesterday struck out two affidavits provided by Australian Workers Union members because they were “irrelevant”.
The ruling came after an application from Dreamworld’s lawyers to have the affidavits struck out. One of the statements was from AWU organiser Jason Shepherd, who declined to comment yesterday.
It is understood the information in the statements related to another ride.
The inquest was also shown a certificate dated eight days before the tragedy from machinery inspector Tom Polley which certified the rapids ride was mechanically sound.
“A visual inspection of the device (including a specific inspection of visible mechanical and structural critical components) has been completed. This inspection did not include an electrical inspection,” the document reads.
“In my opinion, this device was mechanically and structurally safe to use at the time of inspection provided the above recommendation is appropriately considered and the above fault found is repaired.”
The fault found an issue with the anti-roll back gate not working and the recommendation was it be added to the inspection.
The inquest will continue this morning with evidence from ride operator Stephen Buss.
I OBVIOUSLY HAD POLICE COME AND TAKE OVER THE CONTROL ROOM … EVERY OFFICER WANTED TO SEE THE FOOTAGE. EVERY SENIOR OFFICER WANTED TO SEE THE SAME THING NIGEL IRWIN