What Really Happened on Dreamworld's Thunder River Rapids October 25, 2016?

[@aliciaflood2908]

How awful for that new trainee. To find out that you could have easily stopped this tragedy if you’d just pressed a single button, but of course, only after the fact because no one in management bothered to make any decent policies for training.

[@Crocogator]

The button was UNLABELLED. What!

[@milesbbop9563]

@@Crocogator Press the big red button. Like for every machine.

[@obeseperson]

@@milesbbop9563 bro half the time you’re supposed to NOT press the big red button Unlabeled safety stop button is STUPID I don’t care how big or red the button was

[@spencerriding2904]

@@milesbbop9563they were also told not to push it unless told to do so by the other operator. entirely the fault of the park owners

[@FidesAla]

Worse, if they had pressed the button, they would have been blamed for the whole thing. One person might still have died, and the park management would tell the survivors (three of whom would have been saved by that operator pressing the button) that it was the operator’s fault. No one would know the difference, so they’d all believe that. One random person on the other side of the world 9 years later would have vindicated them, but no one involved would just happen to see the video.

[@Clovieon]

It's even worse when you learn about the victims. The two survivers were the children of the deceased. They clung onto the raft as their parents fell through and were mangled by the mechanisms below the ride. Thank you for the animation! I never really understood how the raft flipped until now, or how the estops operated. It was so confusing until your animation showed it

[@slars22]

Absolutely gut wrenching💔so sad for them

[@cadendicky1855]

My God, they must have volcanic levels of PTSD. I pray for them to have brighter futures.

[@robinauseer499]

yeah. thats why this accident stuck in my head all these years, knowing those kids had to cling, literally, for dear life, all while watching their own parents getting eaten by the mechanisms and knowing that if their grips were to fail, that the same fate would befall them. sickening terror.

[@cherrytraveller5915]

One of the kids was thrown clear of the ride by her uncle. That is what they said at the time.

[@danem2215]

From what I have read, the responders needed therapy, so I can't even begin to fathom how horrifyingly scarring it must be seeing that happen to your mom and dad.

[@UseZapCannon]

It's a shame that using the "emergency stop" button on any of these machines is basically guaranteed to lose you your job if it's anything but 100% necessary. A running theme of these episodes seems to be that operators don't hit the big red button because they're scared of overreacting and getting fired

[@CoasterCollege]

Yeah, thankfully that sentiment has gone away at most facilities.

[@lolnaw3411]

not everywhere, at the park i worked at we were extensively trained on all the situations we were supposed to use the e-stop in and to use our own judgement to hit it if we ever felt a situation was unsafe and could be made worse without an immediate stop. I once accidentally bumped into an e-stop and didn't receive any kind of consequences other than some light ribbing.

[@CoasterCollege]

@@lolnaw3411 lol a similar situation happened at a park i worked at. One of the operators I oversaw accidentally dropped the rides phone on the Estop. It was very funny and other than some jokes the operator received no corrective action.

[@keiyakins]

Frankly, firing someone for using the e stop in any remotely reasonable situation should be enough to get the park shut down.

[@steve0377]

It’s a terrible workplace culture for safety. Not only does it make operators reluctant or hesitant to use the emergency procedures, it can often be very difficult to prove that a tragedy could or would have taken place without the gift of hindsight after it has. There’s every possibility that an operator who used the emergency stop in this scenario and averted this tragedy would have been fired for it.

[@regulusmasamuneryuku8657]

Your animations for ride accidents are incredible. This accident probably makes me the most uncomfortable out of everyone I've learned about. You did a good job using animation to explain what happened, without going into gory details. I appreciate that about this channel. I hope designers, engineers, and theme park employees and management companies see these videos. May they reinforce good safety practices, and make people reevaluate things and make positive changes for safety.

[@CoasterCollege]

I appreciate it, and I know for a fact many do!

[@regulusmasamuneryuku8657]

@@CoasterCollege Good! Keep up the great work. Remember to take breaks when you need them, and hydrate so you don't die-drate

[@onewayturtles]

I never understood how anyone got killed by falling out of the raft until I saw your conveyor animation.

[@litz13]

The biggest takeaway from this is that when a park self-builds something "inspired by" a major ride manufacturer ... it means they're cutting costs by not wanting to pay said major ride manufacturer. Major ride manufacturers are such for a reason, and that's the research and safety that backs their rides. Pretty much any major manufacturer ride, if you e-stop the ride, it STOPS. Movement, lights, pumps, sound, you name it - it ALL stops. Three separate buttons to stop the ride? unbelievable.

[@known1443]

In the 80s it was common for Australian rides to be developed in-house. So it was less a cost cutting issue and more just how the industry operated. Most of those rides are gone now, the few remaining abruptly shutting after this incident. (Like the Log flume at SeaWorld and the Looney Tunes River Ride)

[@Rac2703]

@@known1443I believe all in house rides are now gone.

[@Daledugahole]

There was a yellow and red emergency stop button right at the point where the rafts come off the conveyer belt and into the station. You can actually see the button and operator in this video. Crucially, there should have been an operator manning this station “at all times” whilst the ride as in operation. At the time of the accident there was not. Although one of a chain of failures and errors going back 30 years, this was the last line of defence that could have prevented this tragedy.

[@Rac2703]

@@Daledugahole but there was no button that stopped everything. That button only stopped the conveyor, not the pumps. An E-stop stops all ride systems, not just some.

[@SamsonSilvo]

@@Rac2703 No, in-house rides are still a thing. Cannibal at Lagoon is one such ride. They're just not as common as they used to be at major parks.

[@ErisIsAnAbomination]

The condition of this ride pre-incident is *insane* to me. Don’t install enough of the ONE failsafe you have, instruct your trainee operators to NOT USE this failsafe, and blame everything that’s gone wrong in the past on the operators and not the severely neglected ride??? This thing was an accident waiting to happen.

[@benrockstar574]

You said it

[@sarkasaa]

An emergency stop button should never have conditions in which you are disallowed from pressing it. Its supposed to be your "oh shit what do i do" button when something goes wrong. making your employees scared of pressing it is a surefire way to cause injury or worse; instead they should be encouraged to use it should anything happen that could lead to problems. in theory, even a guest should be able to use an emergency stop. and imo if your emergency stop doesnt stop everything safely, it is simply not an emergency stop.

[@CoasterCollege]

Agree completely

[@benrockstar574]

Me too the button is meant to be pressed when ever there is something fishie Maybe you now this weird old squish that cat video similar to the man squishing the cat the e stop button should be pressed

[@alisonberzins1107]

Even with a better designed system, training that's meant to scare employees out of initiating emergency measures unless they have a "good enough" reason is going to hurt their reaction time in a real emergency. You've taught them to stop and make sure they're certain about what's going on and that it's "bad enough" before they act, and that's time you might not have.

[@db6289]

The ride should be automatically e stopping in addition to button if that fails . There was no automatic estop forcing min wage young workers to be in control of some pretty serious machinery

[@jordanwardle11]

E stop is not supposed to stop everything safely. It is just meant to just stop everything because it is unsafe. In this situation, the safe way is the gradual slow down of the conveyor. Stopping it suddenly would throw the guests from their seats, but wouldn't kill them.

[@eeveeauramgold]

I really appreciate how you render these videos to not dwell on the gory horror of a tragedy, but instead of all of the context around it. It's so easy to make these kind of videos into fearmongering with gory imagery, and I really like that you go out of your way to not do that. I originally started watching this channel a year or two back out of paranoia about going to an amusement park, and seeing your level-headed coverage of accidents makes me feel *more* safe, not less. But also jesus *christ* why the hell would you punish ride operators for hitting the e-stop, there were so many things that went wrong with this incident but hearing that one made me have to pause and reel at the implication.

[@CoasterCollege]

Thanks, that's one thing I feel makes this channel so different and I'm glad others want coverage like this.

[@lukeh96353]

What I find crazy is that they were sued by the victims families for killing their loved ones, and sued by their own shareholders for making the shares lose value. The families got $5 million total, but the shareholders got $23 million. Kinda shows whats really more important to society.

[@TechMage299]

This is horrible

[@stlouisrocker100]

I used to work at Six Flags St Louis and I worked at Thunder River the season after this disaster happened. They made sure to hammer in the lessons that this disaster taught.

[@TransistorBased]

I've ridden that ride so many times, and it seems like such a simple and fun thrill ride. So it hit me really hard when I heard about this accident

[@myawfod]

as an ex-rides operator in australia (in like 2023), i don't know exactly how much this ride changed the landscape. what i do know is that to be trained on a ride, you had to complete sometimes 50 cycles, had a full questionnaire, and were told that if something seems dangerous, to hit the e-stop, and that there would be no consequences for trying to do the right thing. also, a two operator ride had an e-stop both at the load and unload, and that the unload operator was told to basically always be within arms reach of the e-stop. it's appalling that some rules and regulations have to be made in blood, but at least things are safer now than they were.

[@stonewallperformance]

The worst part about this is the negligence of the park management itself. I was a ride op for two different parks owned by two different companies back in the 2000s. Despite slightly different policies and procedures, both companies utilized similar training procedures (number of cycles under supervision + test) emphasized the same thing regarding the e-stop and each ride had at least one e-stop available within easy reach of the operator (and easily accessible for others should the need arise). Mind you, this was 20+ years ago as well, so Dreamworld had no excuse to be so negligent and there was no need for these rules/regulations to be made in blood. Absolutely negligent on Dreamworld's part.

[@symply_Sym]

The thought of people getting pulled into that mechanism and getting mangled fills me with a particular kind of horror

[@BoxxyFan]

this is a normal day in china when people ride an escalator

[@leogirl4149]

Honestly, I see the trainee having zero blame on this. They acted with the info that they had, and considering they had JUST been trained to do that, I feel so bad for them.

[@CoasterCollege]

Yeah I can't imagine how they felt

[@chooseyourpoison5105]

Even worse when you know the poor girl now suffers from PTSD and has tried to take her life. She's a victim of the park's failures as much as the four tragically killed

[@C3T1C]

This has to be the most gruesome way to die on an amusement ride in my opinion.

[@spinningpeanut]

You ever heard of the America Sings death?

[@awesometwitchy]

It’s straight out of a Final Fantasy movie.

[@awesometwitchy]

@@spinningpeanutI did, and yes that was gruesome too. I think this one just feels worse because the victims were crushed AND drowned at the same time, plus it’s a giant mechanical contraption vs. a person getting stuck between a moving panel and a stationary one (which almost sounds mundane).

[@scrunt8223]

@@awesometwitchylol you mean final destination?

[@gobbleswells2883]

​@@scrunt8223😂😅😂😅😢

[@richiebell]

As a visual learner, I really appreciate the time and effort put into the animation! Your videos are always super in depth, and I know that I will get the most thorough and detail oriented investigations when I watch this channel!

[@CoasterCollege]

I appreciate it!

[@snakesonn]

kudos to you. it baffles me why people post comments like this

[@splendidcyan]

Others have said it, but I adore how respectfully and factually you explain these accidents. The animations really help visually, without trying to profit off of gorey imagery. There's a similar ride to this at the park I've gone to the most, Lagoon in Farmington, UT, and since Lagoon is known for being a lot of people's first jobs (I know many who worked there from age 14) I was curious about the ages of the employees in this incident. According to the report, the newer operator was 21 years old-- not a teenager, but still very young. I can't imagine that sort of responsibility or impact on someone at any age, but especially in what might've been their first job.

[@CoasterCollege]

Much appreciated!

[@FireflyOnyx]

It's nice to see coverage of this accident that focuses on the cause of the accident and the events leading up to it over the more horrifying details. I don't believe I have ever heard about the previous stops that day or anything to do with the employees before this video. Thank you for such detailed coverage of this accident!

[@CoasterCollege]

Glad I could add more context to the accident!

[@brx8r]

Yeah I feel like the media didn't tell us much, and some of the graphics and descriptions at the time were misleading

[@skyemiddletonx9006]

Oh you finally did a video on this, thank you! As an Australian I love Dreamworld and was so disappointed and shocked. It really is one of the worst theme park accidents and I was hoping to one day hear your take. Edit: Great video and the conclusion was good. I feel so sorry for the children who had to watch their family members get "crunched" by the ride, but I never knew the trainee operator was at the unload station and watched it happen, literally on their first day.

[@CoasterCollege]

Yeah it was a bad situation. I was waiting to cover it as I didn't have the skills (animation) to cover it right for the longest time. I believe the trainee had worked at the park before and was just being cross trained at TRR.

[@MissJediMouse]

I was so upset about this one. The rapids had always been my favourite ride, to the point I’d ride it a couple of times each visit. And to find that it had been so badly mismanaged leading to such a stupidly preventable tragedy was infuriating. All those poor people, both on and off the raft.

[@db6289]

@@CoasterCollegecorrect . This was a high level ride so you would not do day 1

[@gowiththejo]

I grew up near Dreamworld, loved it so much (along with Wet n Wild) and even had a birthday in my mid 20s there. I'm in my 40s now and always thought I'd make a nostalgic visit but this tragedy makes me feel really sombre about it.

[@Lizzie__Lizzz]

This would have to be one of the most devastating accidents to happen in Australia. I find it so unusual that Australian’s are able talk about this like it was no big deal. Hundreds of people were affected by this accident. Not just the family of the victims but all the visitors at the park that day that saw what happened, the workers and all of their families. The whole of Australia was deeply affected by this. Our country is small enough that we mourn the loss of our fellow Australians. As a Queenslander, I would NEVER return to Dreamworld as I find it so disrespectful to return to a place that refused to close to show respect for their negligence that caused this accident. I can still remember the victims faces. RIP 🙏🏼

[@lolnaw3411]

Only one emergency stop (originally none), not even telling the operators what the emergency stop does, and discouraging operators from using the emergency stops is such a baffling level of neglectful it's hard to not take as malicious

[@CoasterCollege]

Many parks require operators to test the emergency stops as part of their startup daily checks. This not only tests that the stops are working properly but shows the operators what the buttons do. The fact that they did not do this is very questionable.

[@arandomperson920]

you can really see how this had so many chances to be prevented but the holes all lined up on this one day.

[@Beexorl]

No full e-stop on the main panel is insane. They had so many chances to prevent this.

[@CoasterCollege]

Not included in the video but the rides control panel was even modified slightly before this accident to add an operator presence detector, so an Estop could have easily been added. There's a ton more information on this one in the report!

[@aussiepandaofficial]

I visited dreamworld as a kid a few years prior to this incident and ironically, was too scared to ride any of the thrill rides. This was one of the only rides I was actually game enough to try, hearing about what happened just a few short years later on the news hit me way harder knowing that it could have been me. I have been back to dreamworld as an adult and even though that entire area is gone, I still felt uneasy the whole time I was there knowing what unfolded in 2016. Thank you for covering this, I've seen a few videos on it and this is by far the most in depth

[@CoasterCollege]

I appreciate it!

[@bellabb45]

I feel ya. When I use to go I always thought of this ride as the safe and relaxing ride and not scary at all I was in shock when this happened , such a horrible way to die I feel for these families

[@maskedsonja5722]

Ive seen other vids on this horrible accident, yours is by far the most comprehensive Ive seen! Well done, with the animation and research. Would be very open to seeing more of these longer more detailed videos!

[@CoasterCollege]

Thanks!

[@XanCalGil]

Having ridden this ride several times as a child, and an adult, it always seemed so innocuous and tame. You wouldn't give any thoughts to there being any risk whatsoever before getting on. This is what shocks me the most

[@jesss7930]

Me too. I loved this ride as a kid and the thought of those poor families destroyed by the insane incompetence (and willful ignorance) of the park is devastating. This ride was so full of flaws just waiting to align - I honestly feel that it should have been the end for Dreamworld. I have memories of sitting across from my grinning, laughing parents and brother when we were all much younger, and those families deserved to have had the same. It’s a gut punch.

[@cherrytraveller5915]

I rode on it as an adult. I thought the ride was lame as I had done grizzly rapids in Disneyland which had more drops than this one had.

[@iSheree]

Same here, made me question everything. Haven’t been on a ride since.

[@rubybonsparkletits2323]

I know what you mean. It was the "chill" ride at Dreamworld. The one you'd take kids on who were too scared to go on the faster ones 😢

[@tbolttravis]

I'm a Ride Operator at Kennywood and have been one since 2019. One of my main rides is the Raging Rapids (manufactured by Intamin) and just a few years ago- 2021, I believe- the park decided to completely overhaul all safety features for the ride including a new block system and fully automated safety gates that were controlled by sensors from the aforementioned block system. When I questioned why this was happening, this accident was cited but I never fully understood the severity or practicality of the overhaul/refurbishment until I saw this video.

[@CoasterCollege]

@@tbolttravis that's great to hear, glad I could help provide better info!

[@lexicase8805]

I was on this ride the day of the accident, just after noon when it reopened. It was the last ride i went on that day and then went back to my hotel on surfers paradise, turned on the tv and watched in horror to see that very ride had just killed 4 people probably moments after i left the park. As a result i now have submechanophobia and probably wont ever go near water with anything mechanical in it again. I cant even begin to imagine the nightmares those two kids, and the bystanders, and emergency service workers probably still go through.

[@thefergyfilms]

This is the most disturbing and unsettling theme park accident I have heard of, the way the operators tried to stop it, couldn't, and had to sit there and watch as 4 people are violently grinded up in front of them. All because of an infinite amount of operational failures that all led up to that one horrific moment happening. This is easily your best video to date, I'm a bit shook up having watched that. Incredible work!

[@MrLurker906]

I haven't really thought enough about how disturbing the conveyor mechanism was until now due to your outline of the situation. That is unimaginably horrific.

[@CoasterCollege]

Interesting that it was the only rapids with a conveyor like this and no one thought twice

[@known1443]

​​@@CoasterCollege I believe Wonderland Sydney had a nearly identical convertor belt setup on their Snowy River Rampage ride. (Which I think was actually developed by Intanin)

[@thomas1910]

I appreciate your videos and the grace you treat the victims. Even though I’ve seen several videos about this accident, I’ll always watch yours again for fresh, well-researched information and overall better commentary. Thanks for the content!

[@CoasterCollege]

Much appreciated!

[@Allycat9020]

I’m a Queenslander and I remember when this happened. My Mum was a nurse with lots of experience working with traumatic injuries. I’ll never forget the look on her face when the news started to come out, before anyone really knew what happened, and the reporter who had obviously been dispatched to Dreamworld said Ambulances had arrived with a certain lights and siren going off (can’t remember which ones now). She just shook her head and said “They’re all dead then, and their injuries will be horrific. They never X light for anything else”. Seeing it animated really hammers what she said home. Negligence doesn’t even cut it!

[@chooseyourpoison5105]

@@Allycat9020 The poor ambo who attended apparently has PTSD now as well. Can't say I blame him. "Injuries not compatible with life" - fuck, what a horrific phrase.

[@iseneauthelion]

This ride would've earned an "Operating as normally as it was capable of doing" at the beginning of the video. Something as disfunctional as this should not have been permitted to operate.

[@CoasterCollege]

I was debating back and forth, definitely would not have been wrong.

[@Jinxness]

Thank you so much for discussing this thoroughly but most of all respectfully and without clickbait tactics.

[@haunter_1845]

These animations really help explain what words can't. Keep up the great work! I don't work in amusements, but in manufacturing I've found that when something bad happens people tend to go "E-stop blind" (as I call it). Even seasoned operators won't have the muscle memory to go for it unless it's normally practiced.

[@CoasterCollege]

@@haunter_1845 thanks!

[@screamthroughdreams]

After this happened, there was a lot of debate on whether or not TRR should be demolished or not. Fans of the ride didn't want to see what they considered an iconic part of Dreamworld gone. After seeing everything that went wrong, there was really no other option but to get rid of the thing.

[@darkinproductions]

I mean that’s the most reasonable and smart thing to do. The ride operator leads didn’t teach how to stop the ride. (That also was unlabeled) The leads were at fault and a risk of stopping the ride to save a life? That’s a fired employee cause they only wanted more riders in the end. So tearing down a final destination opening was a smart decision.

[@screamthroughdreams]

​@@darkinproductions it was really a perfect storm of fuckery

[@michaelferguson387]

When it happened it was reported that the bodies were not compatible with life, I had never heard that before and hopefully never again.

[@FoaxZed]

21:04 this entire animation is horrific, that must've been such a terrifying thing to have seen in person

[@CoasterCollege]

I made sure to sync the animation to the timestamps in the accident report as well, it should be pretty similar to what it looked like.

[@MissJediMouse]

From local news coverage, several of the responders had/have ongoing trauma as a result of this accident.

[@benalexander8838]

Was a local, and frequent visitor of Dreamworld. Even went to the school that was right across the road. Still remember hearing the noise and commotion during class. Since then Dreamworld really has never been the same.

[@hownottoadult1014]

As an Australia we went to dreamworld and rode this ride as a kid roughly every 4 years. It was considered a safe bob along in the water kind of ride compared to the roller coasters and the tower drop other kids my age (11-17) went on. It really shocked people not just the graphic nature of the incident but also how something everyone had experienced to be a lazy river or a tame ride for 6-10 years old to experience as their first rides had become so deadly

[@kiiyann0]

the fact that they removed so many panels and thought that it would be fine just baffles me. i’m no engineer but just LOOKING at how close the rafts can come to slipping between the gaps makes me think a different solution might have been better

[@OtisCluck]

I feel like a better solution to the wooden planks getting waterlogged and heavy would be to not use wood, maybe like fiberglass or something?

[@snakesonn]

I bet a lot of things 'baffle' you

[@kiiyann0]

@@snakesonn not really. i have a master’s degree.

[@snakesonn]

@@kiiyann0 I bet you do, and a Reddit account too 😂😂

[@kiiyann0]

@@snakesonn two computer science degrees, actually. and why use reddit? that website is a cesspool.

[@galacticshrimpenterprise6100]

Thank you for actually making quality content 😩 I’m so sick of garbage AI coverage of events like this bc it always comes across as horribly insensitive towards the victims/their families with how they mindlessly sensationalize and speculate. Your video definitely gives the most context of any content I’ve seen about the incident- just the straight reporting of the facts- in a way that doesn’t make me feel like I’ve just unwillingly participated in some form of exploitation. Keep up the good work! We need more of *this*, not the AI garbage that feels the need to saturate every corner of the internet with useless garbage.

[@CoasterCollege]

@@galacticshrimpenterprise6100 thanks for commenting to help boost this videos reach!

[@ZachAttackIsBack]

I've heard about this accident previously, but your video was much more detailed and illustrative. As an aside, you might consider using the Swiss cheese model of accident causation to better illustrate how these accidents occur. Basically, this accident model shows all the holes in safety that have to line up at the same time for an accident to happen. For example, the failed pump was a major factor, but it also occurred due to years of poor maintenance, ill-conceived modifications to the ride, and a panicked ride operator who didn't instruct the other operator to hit the emergency stop button on the conveyor belt (and that person not being trained enough to know to hit the shut off without being told). The holes in all these pieces of Swiss cheese had to line up at the same time or the accident would not have occurred.

[@CoasterCollege]

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll keep that in mind!

[@ophiolatrix]

Thank you for making these videos that cover accidents in detail without sensationalism or exaggerating details for shock value. This ride incident in particular is probably one of the absolute worst I've heard about and still haunts me, and the amount of negligence from dreamworld that led to it is disgusting

[@CoasterCollege]

@@ophiolatrix thanks!

[@Glassbarbecue_]

Such a tragedy RIP to those who lost their lives that day. I was on holiday in the Gold Coast from New Zealand and my wife and I rode that ride only a few days before the incident. I was back home and saw it on the news and yelled out to my wife to come watch and we were both in shock.

[@footagemissing]

I remember an emergemcy responder using the term 'injuries incompatible with life' and that being quite jarring to hear on the evening news. Your animation and explanation really showed just how horrific the scene must have been. Thoughts are with the victims and witnesses. Thank you for the effort you put into this video.

[@meltyy9594]

I remember that report too, and that phrase specifically has stuck in my mind ever since.

[@samkathryn4825]

Ironically, I was just rewatching the whole What Really Happened playlist over the past two days and was trying to remember whether you'd covered this one already. This one has haunted me since I first heard about it. I appreciate your thorough coverage. What a terrible, avoidable accident.

[@mandysmenagerie4466]

As an Australian I'm really glad to see you cover this one!

[@nala606]

I still remember the day it happened. There were multiple helicopters flying over the suburb that afternoon and when I went home it was the first thing I saw on the news. I remember feeling haunted by the fact that I was literally taking selfies on that ride a week before this tragedy happened. It truly could’ve been anyone in that situation considering there were clearly so many signs of there being issues with this ride prior to the incident.

[@STARPHASE]

I think about this one a lot. The emergency response people saying that the victims didn't even look like human bodies anymore just...can't imagine how bad that carnage was.

[@wii7cked]

even just the animation unnerved me. i cannot imagine--and never want to see--what that aftermath must've been like

[@bookcat123]

I’m not the first to say this, but just going to say that I also had seen videos on this before and been very confused by what exactly happened - your animation and description finally made it make sense (though a horrible sense). Thank you!

[@CoasterCollege]

I appreciate you taking the time to write a comment letting me know!

[@crytocc]

It occurs to me how much of this accident's cause seems to boil down to employee treatment. Had employees' recommendations for an emergency stop been listened to, it would not have happened. Had employees received sufficient training, it would not have happened. Had they had a reasonable emergency stop policy, instead of one that discourages using it, it would not have happened. Had they staffed the ride with enough employees to not be overburdened with "stuff to keep track of", it would not have happened. It seems like at every turn, Dreamworld neglected the agency and capabilities of employees, shouldering them with immense responsibility for rider safety but without ever granting them the tools or authority to actually _take_ that responsibility. That, to me, seems like the core cause here, and it's unfortunately not one that is fixed with a mechanical adjustment or retraining; it's a fundamental work culture problem.

[@merlin_V2]

This could have been avoided. With "This is an E-Stop Button. It Emergency Stops the Machine".

[@mmkippod]

I really appreciate you. It’s so nice to be able to learn about these incidents and feel confident that I won’t see gory/scarring imagery. I wish everyone was so thoughtful.

[@CoasterCollege]

Glad I can be a resource for that!

[@Hannah-nl5qq]

"died from coming in contact with the ride's machinery" is such a pleasant way to phrase it

[@rebekahjollie5053]

You should do a video on the monorail crash at Walt Disney World in 2009. The accident killed one operator and also led to the cessation of the program where kids could be invited to the front of the monorail to see it how it’s driven.

[@BunScholar]

What an awesome video you've made here! The animations and information about this ride are astounding. The lack of E-stops is insane. I have only operated rides for a short time in my life, so I'm no expert, but I have no idea how this thing passed any sort of safety inspection. Gross negligence, and a completely preventable tragedy.

[@CoasterCollege]

I'm glad you enjoyed, such a simple design element any experienced manufacturer would have remembered. Insane that it wasn't on this ride in an accessible place.

[@kimzee59]

Im glad that you've now covered this accident as it was always one I wanted to learn about. I've watched other videos on it before but never fully understood all the ins and outs of it. I really appreciate the detail and animations that you put into your videos.

[@CoasterCollege]

I appreciate it

[@pleasespellchimerical7202]

The kind of situation I refer to as 'no cheese' - instead of using the swiss cheese model to put in layers to prevent accidents, there's nothing standing in the way of a serious accident. Glad lessons were learned, but they came at a horrifying cost.

[@askjacob]

This was a hula hoop of "it hasn't happened yet" with another hula hoop of "pure luck so far"

[@ZeldaTheSwordsman]

I have to wonder if using suction pumps was a flaw in itself. I know that Intamin seems to favor using Archimedes' screws to lift the water at the end. Speaking of the pumps, they apparently had a tendency to trip offline for most if not all of the ride's life - making me suspect they were only barely strong enough for the job to begin with. The frequency with which they tripped offline had also apparently greatly increased in the ride's final years, which to me seems a pretty clear indicator that they were at the end of their rope and needed to be replaced. And augh, the modifications to the conveyor... They should have replaced the wooden planks with plastic ones, instead of removing every second and third plank. And of course, the lack of interlocking and a single E-stop button... Ugh.

[@OtisCluck]

If they really wanted to use wooden planks that bad, they should have at least used some sort of waterproof sealing agent/coating, like something used on boats

[@asddw4998]

Oh God imagine having to watch the CCTV footage......... Jesus..........

[@xana3961]

This is one of the worst examples of gross negligence I have ever seen. This wasn't just that the park didn't do due diligence. They did actually do their due diligence, refused to modify the ride to e-stop as much as possible (come on, we all know they could have added more to stop the ride at different ride elements), had an accident where one of the rafts flipped over, THERE WAS NO FULL E-STOP BUTTON ON THE RIDE OPERATOR CONSOLE, and they had another incident involving the termination of an operator for putting guests in danger. I get that this isn't a roller coaster and, by its very nature, is a little more uncontrollable. But dear god, man, those deaths were entirely foreseeable, preventable, and unnecessary to prove that their system is unsafe. And when the park was told "You should probably address these problems," up to and including the 2001 accident, they did... nothing. They best had good lawyers to get out of that mess.

[@CoasterCollege]

Yeah quite a long string of events leading up to it, no Estop on the main control panel is very questionable.

[@mattyclark3264]

another incredible video. was having a hard time imagining the incidents that occurred on this ride while just reading about them so, like always, your animations are a huge help. keep up the good work please!

[@Capybara1997-o1l]

Finally! You did this one! The definitive case is now out!

[@NeonNikkiReads]

I live in QLD and everyone was in utter shock when this happened. It's believed that the last act of one of the victims, Luke Dorsett, was to basically push his 12 year old neice to the side so she was flung sideways and not into the conveyer, saving her life. He was posthumously awarded a commendation for bravery. Bystanders who helped people in the other rafts and helped get the kids out of the area were also awarded. Some tried to help the people in the upturned raft. Those memories must be hard to carry.

[@Spike-sk7ql]

Sounds like the park knew they had a DEATH TRAP, and instead of fixing it, or getting rid of it, they were like "yeah nah mate.... it's fine". Sounds like the person making the decisions with the ride should be held responsible for those deaths.

[@CoasterCollege]

Everything is clear in hindsight

[@Sasha-zw9ss]

Maybe true for other elements, but the lack of estop seems wild in a vacuum as well... (I meant that's the element that's NOT only obvious in hindsight)

[@OtisCluck]

@@Sasha-zw9ssit seems wild because it _is_ wild

[@blockstacker5614]

E-stops should have been in both stations and the main control panel and also should bring both pumps and conveyor to a stop as quickly as possible. Pump failure should initiate a stoppage. Float switches should be used to initiate stoppage if the water level is fluctuating for other reason. There should be a ride vehicle detecting switch at the top of the conveyor belt that initiates a stoppage if a ride vehicle is detected blocking the top of the conveyor.

[@Spike-sk7ql]

@@CoasterCollege I honestly don't think hindsight has anything to do with it. The fact that ANY ride operates without a proper E-stop, or with a "try like hell to NOT hit the e-stop" policy is ludacris. Even in the 80s, when our playground equipment was little more than steel death traps. They knew better than to operate what IS essentially a death trap, which is what ANY amusement ride is, way back in the day without an e-stop. I'm just saying, had there been an E-stop at the main panel, or had the poor kid in unload been trained to hit the e-stop, those people would still be alive. Hell, had the ride had a simple water level sensor, the ride would have probably shut itself down. (That last statement is pure speculation. I don't know if rapid rides have water level sensors,but I assume they do)

[@veronis]

I first heard about this accident two years ago and it hasn't left my mind since. I still wonder how the two surviving children are doing today.

[@Abigurlrox]

It’s so horrible I’m so sorry for them

[@davidmcdonnell2598]

I went on this ride plenty of times as a kid. I always thought the conveyor belt was the scariest part of the ride. You wouldn't want to fall in there.

[@TS_Mind_Swept]

I've been wondering why parks have been getting rid of their water rides and not replacing them with a similar type of ride, but with what you mentioned about them being more chaotic with the free-flowing nature of water which makes them more prone to issues, that's likely to be a pretty big contributing factor..

[@CoasterCollege]

Yeah they just present more liability than other rides.

[@TS_Mind_Swept]

@CoasterCollege well hopefully parks start to implement some alternative for those hot days where these types of rides are nice..(something that works better than those misting fans ResidentSleeper) which, on the bright side, doesn't have to run constantly to still be worth having

[@CoasterCollege]

@@TS_Mind_Swept Water coaster style rides I think will continue to take their place. Log flumes are also making a small comeback!

[@TS_Mind_Swept]

@@CoasterCollege well wheel see, I s'pose

[@cherrytraveller5915]

The husband of one of the victims and father two daughters (eldest daughter survived after being thrown off by uncle) took his own life by walking into a rough sea. He had been traumatised having to watch his wife die in his arms. His poor daughter watched her mother die, was saved by her uncle who also died and then had to suffer the trauma of her father taking his life months later.

[@heytiah2261]

As an Aussie knowing this accident and having read the court documents thank you for showcasing this. Such a tragedy and I hope the kids are doing ok!

[@raymondlyons361]

So many engineering design flows. No check valves to prevent backflow of water through the pump, no alarms for water level, gates, pumps or water flow and , no backup pumps to turn on in the case of failure of one of the main pumps,

[@indyspud]

I live in Brisbane. We used to go to Dreamworld every now and then, but I do recall going on this ride almost every time we visited. I honestly don't care that they have apparently overhauled their procedures - I simply refuse to go back there now. I know of many other people here that feel the same way.

[@TechMage299]

Its so crucially important to learn from mistakes like these, in fact id argue its easy to adapt changes into many of these facilities over time, its always just a matter of cost and greed

[@snoleopard]

thanks for doing an australian accident for once. some more australian accidents i'd like to see you discuss: the airmaxx 360 incident, the spin dragon incident, or the old bar festival plane-ferris wheel crash.

[@CoasterCollege]

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll add those to the list!

[@OtisCluck]

What about the Luna Park Ghost Train fire? Or does that not really count?

[@snoleopard]

@@OtisCluck nah, you could throw that in too

[@CoasterCollege]

@OtisCluck that doesn't really relate to ride safety, so for me it's probably off the list

[@Banjo_Tails]

Thank you for reading the report and providing detailed information. It was a long read when i did it a few years ago. As a local to the park and been on the ride many times since the 80s it was a horrible incident. It was something that just had a number of factors all line up. The investigators tried to recreate the event and flip over but couldn't. A tragic accident that could have been avoided on many levels.

[@NYsam15]

What stands out to me is the Australian governments review, audit, and legislation after the accident. As an American, it’s such a strange concept to see the government act after a tragedy 😂

[@SuperWhistler11]

I'm Australian and I remember the media reorting around this incident at the time, prior to the full inquest. Initially the reporting was focused upon park mechanics reseting the ride multiple times, the failure to hit the emergency stop, and more or less blaming individual workers versus what, with the context in this excellent video, was clearly a systemic issue.

[@jimpy476]

I knew one of the people that died due to Dreamworld's negligence with this ride. The fact Dreamworld is still open today is disgusting

[@deathbysushi7803]

Thank you so much for making a video on this, i've only heard bits so to get a comprehesive video is great.

[@CoasterCollege]

If you really want to learn more check out the report, there's even more details I wasn't able to fit into this 25 minute video!

[@scrunt8223]

I cannot fathom the things the first responders/cleanup team had to witness

[@REDIVY78]

I read that they had received intense therapy or they quit their jobs

[@mandysmenagerie4466]

As an Australian when this was all over the news people were getting upset at first responders saying the victims 'had injuries incompatiable with life'. People said saying it that way made them sound callous and uncaring, but I think its the nicest way to describe what they would have seen without traumatising even more people.

[@scrunt8223]

@@mandysmenagerie4466 I hope those people didn’t suffer too much but deep down I know it had to be a horrific way to die

[@blockstacker5614]

@@mandysmenagerie4466 Isn't that just the literal clinical description?

[@abbysol5812]

I have had this video in my recommended for the last few days, I kept refusing to watch it, usually these kinds of accident videos are the sort of thing I find interesting but this one just always hits way too close to home, I grew up at this theme park, always had season passes and rode this specific ride more times then I could possibly count, it was the ride we went on when we just wanted to have a relax and a cool down from the other major rides, thank you for handling the accident so tastefully but I still cant shake the unease I always feel when this accident is discussed, it just hits so much closer to come then any other ride accident I have seen discussed online, it really does sour some of the best memories I have of growing up in a way that is hard to put into words honestly.

[@Deedeeindeed902]

I went on this ride so many times, it was my favourite and so popular. I don't know why they didn't maintain it better. It's absolutely tragic and now in Australia everytime a ride has an emergency stop it's reported and exploited because people have this tragedy in the back of their minds. It makes me angry to no end because it's using an accident for clicks

[@OtisCluck]

That makes no sense, considering this accident was caused by them NOT using the emergency stop button

[@ShiraCheshire]

Thank you for not showing any graphic footage. I appreciate the 3D re-creation.

[@PatriciaMassie]

Horrific accident. Brilliant re-enactment and investigation here. Glad some laws have since been created.

[@BelleBeeee]

I remember watching this unfold on the news it was horrific and I’ve never gone back there since. Even their ads on tv are uncomfortable

[@marcussheen]

An appalling accident, honestly the worst I can remember since I've followed theme parks.

[@CoasterCollege]

I agree

[@sadfatdragon9529]

Like something out of the final destination.

[@RainbowDashShadesOfApproval]

I always enjoy these videos. But this one made me especially uncomfortable. And I think that is a good thing. There were so many points of failure and so much negligence on every level of operation that this goes beyond "slipped the mind to check that." It just seemed like absolutely no one who could have made meaningful changes or checks to the ride cared and just offloaded the responsibility on to the next person. And that poor new ride operator would have to live with that now.

[@CoasterCollege]

Yeah it was truly an accident waiting to happen.

[@lezlienewlands1337]

As someone who has ridden this ride in the past (and gotten a souvenir photo), it's eerie now knowing that the ride was as dangerous as it was. The 2001 incident should've been a warning shot that there were serious issues with the conveyor part of the ride.

[@pixelythegamer3260]

I was wondering if you are going to do this case since it’s one of the most infamous and thus makes it a perfect topic for this series

[@CoasterCollege]

Wanted to wait till I had the skills to cover it right

[@Pabloiznotmyname]

Your animations and explanations are top notch. The graphics are better than some new video games lol

[@CoasterCollege]

Appreciate it!

[@whitelionstudios1786]

As a fan of your videos, I always love the way you cover the technical side of the incidents and what went wrong with them in that front. Though, from a historian side, the punishment of losing their jobs over an emergency reminds me of certain groups in wartime who would execute folk if they went against orders just to save their own people, and for many in this era losing one's job is literally execution because of how hard it is to find a stable job anymore, so i think the fact this type of fearmongering over trying to actually save lives still existing in any form is mortifying. I'm glad they've taken steps since then to try to better safety, but we can only hope less people in the future fear using the emergency stop

[@TheGothicDog]

Living near Dreamworld, it’s scary how many of my friends rode it around the time of the accident.

[@samuell6976]

The animations you made are amazing! Keep up the great work and thank you for always treating this accidents with the respect that they deserve.

[@CoasterCollege]

Thanks!

[@bleughbloop8569]

I visited this park once when I was about 12 and one of the main memories I had was how scary that conveyor thing looked. All that slow moving power half immersed in water really did feel dangerous in a way that wasnt intended

[@fo-ef8qo]

not gonna lie this accident has way turned me off from river rapids rides

[@Boundwithflame23]

Kali River Rapids in Animal Kingdom (WDW), Popeye and Bluto in Islands of Adventure (Universal) and the rapids rides at Six Flags parks all have a flat belt-type conveyer like you’d see at a checkout lane. Probably more like that around the world as I imagine that is the intended design. Definitely seems a whole lot safer than wooden slats.

[@CoasterCollege]

That is the standard design. To my knowledge this ride was the only one with this design, likely due to it being made in house.

[@kso808]

I see an earlier problem after no re-design changes were made after the 2001 similar malfunction occurred. However, this problem may have been related to the removal of some of the wooden planks earlier during 1988-1990, causing a wider gap between the revolving planks terminus and the steel landing exit rails, as you mentioned. The other major fault I see later on was the failure to use the emergency stop button, IMHO, as well as re-design of the moving plank platform stop button, to accommodate a shorter activation time than the original 8 seconds.

[@CoasterCollege]

Yeah seems like an obvious oversight in hindsight

[@Delbzy]

I was there the day this happened! Absolute devastating scenes. Will never be going to a theme part again

[@thehamelsduck1600]

It just blows my mind that there was only one E Stop. At the park I worked at when we did our maintenance checks in the morning we were required to test every E Stop at every position. When the Ops would come in they were required to do the same. We also would have never told an op to never hit the E Stop. To the contrary we would have much rather had them E Stop the ride if they felt or saw something was wrong. Great job on this as always.

[@dawn_h6]

I live in Brisbane and have been on this ride when I was young, maybe 2008-ish. This accident happened right before I graduated high school and my cohort had actually been actually booked to go to Dreamworld a week or two later. The main thing I remember is all my classmates being disappointed that the trip was cancelled. Many even hoped the park would re-open after a day or two - back then it was unknown exactly how long it would be closed. There was controversy that Dreamworld was trying to downplay the accident as they were pushing to re-open asap. It was all pretty big news as the theme parks here are huge for tourism.

[@brx8r]

It wouldn't have stopped THIS accident, but I also note there's no function for allowing an emergency dump of the water. In another River Rapids ride accident the water was required to quickly be drained from the ride into a reservoir when a rider was trapped under a raft. I don't think they even had any way of monitoring the ride course to watch for an incident, and they wouldn't have been able to deal with it quickly anyway.

[@CoasterCollege]

They did have cameras around the ride layout, but yes there was no quick way to drain the ride.

[@Sasha-zw9ss]

You're probably thinking about Cedar Point's Shoot The Rapids, except there were several riders.