Coroner’s inquest expected to run over time

THE Dreamworld inquest is likely to exceed a scheduled four-week hearing with witnesses taking longer on the stand than expected.

The first week of the inquest, into the death of four visitors on the Thunder River Rapids Ride on October 25, 2016, has heard from just eight of the 30-plus people scheduled to give evidence.

The fatal incident occurred after a pump stopped working on the ride, causing water levels to drop and a raft to become stuck on the conveyor belt.

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 raft flipped and the four adults were killed.

Coroner James McDougall has spent the past week sifting through evidence from police investigators, ride operators and Dreamworld employees.

More Dreamworld employees who knew about the operations of the ride are set to take the stand this week.

Those employees include Amy Crisp, who trained new operator Courtney Williams the morning of the tragedy, and Sarah Cotter, who was a supervisor on the ride.

This morning, ride mechanic Kamlesh Prasad will retake the stand to finish crossexamination from a number of lawyers acting for the families of the victims, Dreamworld and it’s employees.

Mr Prasad, who still works at Dreamworld, told the inquest on Friday he helped do the pre-start checks on the ride the morning of the disaster.

“I did not find anything wrong,” he said.