World · East Asia & Pacific · 2 hrs ago
Dreamworld witness recalls panic as fatal ride disaster reaches 10 years
Ten years after the Dreamworld disaster, witness Danny Haber has recalled the panic at the Australian theme park on October 25, 2016.
The Thunder River Rapids ride malfunctioned after a pump failed, leaving a raft stranded as another raft approached and collided with it.
Four of the six people on the raft died; two children escaped, with Kieran Low jumping to safety and Luke Dorsett helping his niece Ebony.
Haber, who was waiting for the ride with his family, helped rescue the children and joined others trying to help the victims.
A 2018 inquest found systemic failures including poor record-keeping, weak regulatory oversight and dangerous design changes, while earlier warning signs had largely been ignored.
A memorial garden at Dreamworld now marks the deaths, and an occupational health and safety expert says the lessons must be used to prevent a similar disaster.
A malfunction on Dreamworld’s Thunder River Rapids ride killed four people on October 25, 2016.
Witness Danny Haber recalls hearing screams and seeing people run as panic spread after the raft flipped.
Haber helped rescue two children from the ride’s steelwork.
A 2018 coronial inquest found systemic failures, including poor record-keeping and regulatory oversight, had contributed to the deaths.
Ten years later, a memorial garden at Dreamworld remains a link to the tragedy.
- Who
- Four people died: Cindy Low, Kate Goodchild, Luke Dorsett and Roozi Araghi. Witness Danny Haber helped rescue two children.
- What
- A raft on the Thunder River Rapids ride flipped after colliding with a stranded raft, killing four people.
- When
- October 25, 2016.
- Where
- Dreamworld theme park.
- Why
- A pump failure lowered the water levels, leaving a raft stranded in the unloading area; another raft collided with it.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
A pump failure and raft collision on the Thunder River Rapids ride killed four people.
Police investigated, and questions arose about how the incident had happened.
A coronial inquest revealed systemic failures that had led to the deaths.
A witness recalled the panic at the scene as the tragedy reached its 10-year anniversary.
- Date of tragedy
- October 25, 2016
- Ride
- Thunder River Rapids
- Fatalities
- Four people
- People on raft
- Six
- Inquest findings
- Systemic failures, including shoddy record-keeping and poor regulatory oversight
- Memorial
- Four benches in a garden at Dreamworld
3 sources
What people are saying
There was just a sound — and then just screaming and people running
Everyone was looking at each other — 'What do we do?'
None of us were trained for that.
The real memorial to Dreamworld should be concerted efforts all over Australia to ensure that sort of incident doesn't happen again