A New Zealand man has revealed that he and his partner narrowly avoided the disaster because they had let the group go in front of them in line.
The 25-year-old man told Newshub that they had let the group pass as they were waiting for his partner’s mother to join them.
The man was horrified by the events, talking about what it was like to witness what happened.
“We saw things we wished we hadn’t,” he said.
He added that he was ‘counting his lucky stars’, and that his mum has said she will never go to a theme park again after what happened.
As the victims of yesterday’s tragic accident at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast have been named, the families and witnesses have also spoken out about the horror that unfolded.
Kate Goodchild, 32, her brother Luke Dorsett, his partner Roozi Araghi and a 42-year-old woman has been named as mother of two Cindy Low by NZ media.
Kim Dorsett, whose two children, Kate Goodchild and her brother Luke Dorsett were both killed on the ride, says her granddaughter, who is believe to have been on the ride but was thrown to safety, was left screaming and calling out for her mother who was trapped.
“She just kept screaming ‘Where’s Mummy? Where’s Mummy?” witness Claire Wooley told News.com.au.
“We tried to comfort her, but she was so emotional it was hard.”
Another witness, Lia Capes added: “We saw [a] little girl and we believe it was her mum because it was just her and her little sister that was an infant.”
“I was speaking to one of the guys and he said it was the raft or the boat thing in front of him, the whole thing flipped and everyone was screaming.”
A male witness also told the publication, “there were kids on board screaming while their mum was trapped under”.
Ms Dorsett says her family are “just devastated, absolutely devastated.”
“I have three children and have lost two of them today — my whole family has been wiped out.
“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.”
Ms Goodchild’s husband had not gone on the ride to look after the couple’s eight-month-old daughter.
The Daily Telegraph reports that the group were just five seconds from safety as the ride was coming to an end before the craft flipped, drowning two of the adults, crushing the other two on a conveyor belt, but somehow miraculously throwing the two children to safety.
Cindy Low was sitting next to her 10-year-old, Kieran, on the ride as her husband and 6-year-old daughter waited for them.
Kieran was one of the two children who miraculously survived the incident, and NZ Herald reports he was the last person to see his mother alive.
Police worked through the night, investigating the incident, looking for clues which will help them understand why the ride malfunctioned and said during a press conference this morning it was a “miracle” the children survived.
“I have seen CCTV footage. It seems from what I’ve seen it’s almost a miracle anyone came out of it,” said Queensland Police Service Assistant Commissioner Brian Codd.
“If we’re going to be thankful for anything, I’m thankful for that.”
“They (the children) were thrown at one part from the ride and then managed to extricate themselves.”
Dreamworld have closed until further notice, with the CEO Craig Davidson saying they are “deeply shocked and saddened” by the tragedy and “our hearts and thoughts go to the families involved and their loved ones”.
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