Dreamworld Australia: Four Killed on Rapids Ride

Four people died today at Dreamworld. Two men and two women were on the attraction called Thunder River Rapids. This is your typical river rapids ride that you see at multiple theme parks across the world.

It is being reported that these 4 individuals were thrown from the raft and somehow became trapped. It had been initially reported that several people were injured by a conveyor belt, which leads us to assume this is where these 4 individuals got trapped and lost their lives.

From video we have obtained, it looks like the raft flipped over and tossed the riders out. The following picture shows the raft flipped over and what we can assume, the bodies of the deceased are covered in white.

Thunder River Rapids opened in 1986

photos:
https://towersstreet.com/talk/threads/r ... ost-177423
(scroll down to my post (same username)).

[mkingy]

Looks to me like the ride was going from left to right, raft at the bottom of the conveyor got stuck. The next boat then was pushed into it and the "nose" was pushed upwards and flipped over backwards.

Interesting that you're 'strapped in' to these rapids. Wonder if this safety measure actually prevented them from escaping with injuries rather than fatalities.

Nonetheless condolences to the families of those affected.

victims have been named and pictured:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -over.html
also:

[Coasterkidmwm]

Under-inflated raft again?

[Paradox]

mkingy wrote:

Interesting that you're 'strapped in' to these rapids. Wonder if this safety measure actually prevented them from escaping with injuries rather than fatalities.

I have more faith in Australians, but if any raft ride in America didn't have seatbelts or anything some moron would stand up and get killed and then his family would sue the park because he lacks common sense.

The "Shoot The Rapids" case didn't get worse like this. Captions in the image above sound graphic...

[Turbo]

That's pretty brutal

[Coasterkidmwm]

Poor Intamin, everyone assumes it was their ride lol

[Turbo]

oh my god, that has to be a photoshopped joke

*checks*

It's real poor Intamin

[Coasterkidmwm]

The problem is there are/were at least two dozen companies that make a rapids ride like that with the smaller cars, so it's difficult to just look at it and know the manufacturer. They all look the same on the exterior minus subtle differences.

[slosprint]

I think the raft was confused due to Australia and was just attempting to return to its natural orientation.

amended picture:

This is a horrible tragedy, and is probably the worst theme park accident in a year that seems to have had more than its fair share. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.

Looking at that graphic, this looks like a case of poor design or a malfunctioning sensor possibly combined with operator error. It appears the unload point is on the right side of the picture, so I wonder whether or not the attendant there noticed the stuck raft before the accident. Either way, a sensor should have detected that the end of the lift was not clear and stopped it before the rafts collided.

Thought the first picture had it backward. Yes definitely something should've stopped that raft from exiting that lift.

The raft in front must have just gotten wedged somehow in that position. Can't imagine watching that unfold.

[Paradox]

This lift does look poorly designed imo. I'm surprised it took this long for an accident like this to occur.

[Turbo]

The conveyor belt has HUGE gaps in it.. wonder if that played a part

[Paradox]

Considering the raft was flipped over due to the gaps in the conveyor, they most definitely played a part lol. All the raft ride's I've ridden have the planks closer together or just have a conveyor belt.

I just want to point out those gaps are to small for the raft to fall like that. There are two rows of additional support for the raft close together. I'm thinking that the converter belt probably was stoped or rolling backward while Idleing when the raft came into contact. If the conveyor belt was moving forward the front end would be lifted up, not pushed down like what happened. Alternatively, maybe it rolled back down the lift(similar to the str accident) then hitting the water it flipped backwards all the way around to where you see it now.

[Turbo]

Im talking strictly about the height of the rubber piece on the rafts themselves

Going back up about the sensor to stop this, I know Shipwreck rapids at seaworld san diego has some sort of sensor, it has 2 different arms before the lift that stop rafts, and in addition to that, the conveyor allows only one raft on it at a time. If for some reason the loading platform stops, or a raft (on the conveyor) gets too close to a boat in the station the lift stops by itself, or slows down to space it out.

oh dear.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... rists.html
also, this is what happened:



surely they wouldn't have been thrown from the raft if they were wearing seat belts?

^ That's nasty along with... this year's most tragic "Verruckt" case...

[Oscar]

We're getting reports that Busch Gardens has shut down their river raft attraction for the time being.

^ Murphy's Law...