A ten-year-old boy saw his mother die on an Australian theme-park ride as details emerged of the tragedy’s victims.
Four people were killed when a family ride at Dreamworld on Queensland’s Gold Coast malfunctioned.
New Zealander Cindy Low, 42, was on the Thunder River Rapids with her son Kieran when their inflatable raft crashed and flipped over, dragging her into a conveyor belt.
Her family said Kieran was deeply “traumatised” after seeing the entire event and is being cared for by his father Mathew, who narrowly escaped danger with the couple’s six-year-old daughter when they chose a different ride.
The family were sitting alongside Canberra mother Kate Goodchild, 32, her brother Luke Dorsett, 35, and Ms Goodchild’s 12-year-old daughter when the raft crashed on Tuesday.
Dreamworld Theme Park
Both mothers, Mr Dorsett and his partner Roozi Araghi, 38, died in the raft and Australian police said it was a “miracle” the two children survived.
Ms Goodchild had given birth to a second daughter just eight months ago. Her mother Kim Dorsett today confirmed her two children died in the accident and said her granddaughter “is completely devastated - she is blaming herself for what has happened”.
Witnesses said the two girls were taken screaming from the park with their father, who emerged from the ride covered in mud,
Ms Dorsett said: “I have two granddaughters - an eight-month-old and a 12-year-old - and it truly breaks my heart to know that my eight-month-old is never going to get to know her mum.”
The Thunder River Rapids ride is available to children as young as two years old. It whisks people in circular rafts along a fast-moving, artificial river, with a conveyor belt helping move the rafts through the water.
State police Assistant Commissioner Brian Codd said: “One (raft) flipped backward and it has caught and tossed some of the people that were on the ride backward into the conveyor belt.
“In terms of how the children escaped, maybe through the providence of God or somebody, but it seems from what I’ve seen almost a miracle that anybody came out of that.”
Dreamworld is still closed and police say charges – including criminal negligence – may be filed.
