Water hid ride victim

DREAMWORLD paramedics did not know a fourth person was underwater until the Thunder River Rapids Ride was drained, an inquest heard yesterday.

The scene was so “overwhelming” it staggered paramedics with more than 20 years’ experience.

Experienced paramedics and first aid officers John Clark and Shane Green told the inquest they initially thought there were only three patients.

The inquest is examining what happened after a pump stopped working on the Thunder River Rapids Ride, causing water levels to drop and a raft to become stuck on the conveyor belt about 2pm 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.

The inquest heard Mr Clark initially waded into chest-high murky water to help give CPR to one of the victims.

He asked people to help find something to lift the patient out of the ride’s trough.

Only when the water level fell did he realise there was another patient underwater.

Mr Clark said he was not sure how long he had been at the scene by that time.

Mr Green, who was also the park’s first aid boss, said: “I truly believe that scene was so overwhelming it overwhelmed all training.

“Even talking to the QAS and QPS afterwards, it was such an abnormal scene... I agree training is important but I couldn’t say whether it made any difference in searching for people in that case.”

Mr Green said the park’s safety planners had never “envisaged” such a tragedy. He said nothing would have changed the outcome.

“And in all honesty, if you had the world’s leading cardio surgeons, neurosurgeons, traumatic surgeons in that place with all their equipment, nothing would have changed that outcome,” he said

Mr Green said scenario training in responding to emergencies on rides was not done outside of park opening hours due to costs.

Safety first aid officer Ben Hicks will continue to give evidence today.

I TRULY BELIEVE THAT SCENE WAS SO OVERWHELMING IT OVERWHELMED ALL TRAINING