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Personally I would be very surprised to see the ride ever re open. Whilst popular it is also an aging ride that is very expensive to run and this tragic incident has probably sealed its fate. Other rides have killed people and reopened yes, but with far for reason to than TRRR has. Coukd be an end to that entire area of the park with the idea of putting the tragedy behind them. In this time though, regardless of if it was your favourite ride, or how sad YOU might be, four people lost their lives today and it would be a horrific time for anyone who knew them or was involved. Perspective is important.

My Heart goes out to everyone affected and all those Team Members belonging to our beautiful Aussie Theme Park, Dreamworld during this horrific and extremely traumatising time. Whilst there will be a tonne of negative speculation surrounding the future of the ride and indeed the Park itself, right now is perhaps not the best time. I prefer that we can allow the Park to Mourn it's greatest devastating moment and through all the sadness, can find the wings to fly when the time is right

2 of the riders deceased were friends of a close friend of mine. Brother and sister aged in their 20s. Let's all calm down and stop the wild speculation we're seeing thrown around here until more is known. Today is a sad day for the industry and for the people involved. Please be calm and respectful. My initial reaction on hearing about it were that someone must have stood up, but after seeing the pictures it appears to be a fairly simple explanation involving no rider error. Let's just wait and see.

I don't believe you should be speaking on behalf of dreamworld as you are not their media representative and clearly are breaching your contract

Ok. I've had a theory most of the afternoon. I've held back speculating on it to be respectful to the situation. Since others feel compelled to try and make an argument at odds with my own, I feel compelled to present my alternative theory. For my two cents, i say: a raft had just come off the lift and was stopped by the gate control system in the station as the load zones ahead were occupied. The conveyor belt SHOULD have stopped preventing further rafts from entering the first load zone. I'm not sure whether it is computer or manual control. Either way - the conveyor DIDN'T stop. When rafts enter the load zone, they do so on a downhill angle, slowly floating to level as the rest of the raft leaves the conveyor. In this case, (in my opinion) with the first zone occupied, the raft has come down on top of the raft in front, which of course is held in place by the control gates. The conveyor continues to push the second raft forwards, pushing the back end lower and eventually underwater, which in turn raises the front end. Eventually it flips, and there you have it. Nothing to do with riders not following the rules, which I will admit was my first thought when I heard the news. After reading articles, looking at the pictures on the news, and talking to a few friends with a bit of industry knowledge, that's where i'm at.

Look everyone... some have obviously been affected by this incident more than others. We're not going to ask members to refrain from speculation. Obviously at this point there are a lot of photos and eye-witness accounts out there to go by and this is a community of theme park lovers so there will be discussion. I might suggest that rather than condemning others for making observations or sharing thoughts, that you perhaps take a break from this topic for a day or two if you're feeling a bit overwhelmed by today's tragic events. We really don't want to see bickering, down-voting or other pettiness in an already difficult discussion.

Need you be reminded that four people just tragically suffered horrific, brutal deaths on this ride? Honestly I think that would be the very last thing on mind of the park's management and staff at the moment... if they have even remotely thought about it at all at this stage. The cause of the incident has not been determined as yet, let alone if the ride is safe to ever continue operating in future. Despite what date the website allegedly states at this stage, one would be wise to assume it indicates very little and tbh at this stage I'd expect the ride to remain closed indefinitely, if not out of respect of the victims alone.

Giant Drop in early 2002... one of the cable couplers didn't correctly fold away after the gondola passed and was clipped on the way down. As Gazza noted this was the reason for the mesh awning.

I don't believe that comment should be made publicly without 100% confirmed accuracy. People have died, let's not blame or put the onus on them at this point for their sake of their family & friends

My little girl inadvertently saw this on the news, I try my hardest to keep her from watching the news, and now she is on the verandah blowing kisses toward Dreamworld. "Is God sad Daddy?" I don't cry very much at all. I just held her and let the tears fall.

Have you even been following the initial facts as to what happened? It's believed that the entire raft flipped after it collided with another on the lift hill conveyor belt. Do you seriously believe that it's physically possible for people standing up and "mucking around" in any manner to manage to flip one of those incredibly heavy things over? Just... wow. I think I'm going to bite my tongue on this one.

Note the ages have been given as 30s & 40s.

A bit did fall, hence the mesh awning above the seats being retrofitted.

Are you drinking beer tonight?

A sad day, truly. I hope that the investigations into this tragic incident result in measures that mean this never has the chance to happen again. My thoughts and condolences go out to the family and friends of the victims.

My Partner and I will be making a trip to Coomera tomorrow to offer some Aussie bush flowers, some tears and our best wishes to all those affected. People, if you are struggling to show respect at this time, best that you say nothing at all Goodnight, Godbless and sweet Dreams beloved Dreamworld..

Early thoughts are a major computer malfunction which hasn't stopped the conveyor like it should have. We initially thought rider error but have ruled it out. Still very early though, it's going to be a long night. Engineer and system expert from Intamin currently en route to help with investigations. P.S. Some of the trolling in here is horrible

Here's a tip - before people really start telling you what they think of your ridiculously insensitive posts - read Alex's post above which is the most likely root cause of the accident - and then log off and come back when you've grown up.

And they usually don't, hence why this hasn't never happened with the ride until today. But sometimes things can and do go wrong, especially when mechanical issues or operator error are involved. @AlexB I agree with your theory. I have had similar images in my head of how the incident took place, and they are not unlike what you have described. Although I imagined a raft going nose up over the back of the one in front and flipping backward, as opposed to going nose down. Either way it happened, I'm sure it was absolutely horrific to all who were involved. I keep hoping it's just a bad dream I'm having and I'll wake up from it soon. The situation seems so surreal, being a family ride I have grown up with and incident free until today. Suddenly, four lives are lost and the ride shut down indefinitely. Still can't believe this tragedy took place today. It's something that's going to take me a while to get over. It's so sad

There's almost certainly no way that this incident was in any way caused by the riders. The situation @AlexB has described seems like a reasonable scenario based on the photos and eye-witness reports that have surfaced thus far.

Honestly, I cannot believe that someone would even remotely consider amusing themselves with trolling during a tragedy like this

we don't have sufficient evidence that the individuals were mucking around, mate please don't jump to conclusions without sufficient evidence to back up your point

What an odd turn of phrase from QAS.. "suffered injuries that were incompatible with living". My 2c - terrible tragedy, but i can't see any way in which this results in the closure of Dreamworld. Even if worst case they were found at fault for the incident. I honestly believe we have some of the safest parks in the world, unfortunately when a few worst case scenarios line up for a perfect storm, an incident like this can occur. I would think the park will be closed for ~ a week whilst initial investigations occur. The area around the ride will be fenced off whilst investigations continue. I think attendance will drop significantly for the next few months, then once the incident investigations are released and the coverage goes away things will slowly return to normal. The fate of the ride i guess will depend largely on the cause of the accident. If it's found to be a design floor (unlikely due to its age and years of operation), or an expensive to rectify problem then i would guess it will be closed. If it was rider error then i would expect there will be a number of safety changes and the ride will reopen. As sad as it is, i also suspect the ages of the riders to make a difference in peoples reactions. An innocent child/teenager compared to an adult is just different again. It's still a terrible tragedy, but i guess the adults can weigh the decision to go a ride more than a child maybe? I don't know..

Buzzsaw has a theme? who knew!

You are laying the blame on the park without proof or substantiation. You're also claiming this will bankrupt the park without knowledge of their insurance coverage or financial position. There is no evidence of that.

Un-believable that's all I can say. I can feel for the families, staff and everyone else involved, the ride attendants running the ride will feel absolutely horrible.

Given we know that news channels like to come here and there are currently 50+ members and 1000+ guests viewing the parkz forums I don't think any of our speculation (or supposed information) is necessary at this point... I am sure we all have our own thoughts, ideas or theories as to what has happened, how and so on but as mentioned above this is most definitely not the time to be posting these when family, friends and staff could be either reading this or the media will take it as fact and report refering to it and that opens another can of worms... Even on news.com.au Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate has said "I urge everyone to show the respect needed as the relevant authorities undertake investigations in to what has occurred."

ABC News 24 are going to be carrying the press conference live for those interested.

Given the vision I posted above from the 7 chopper, I think we can safely assume whatever's occurred did indeed happen on the lift hill of Thunder River Rapids.

Are they place names or things from your browser search history @reanimated35?

I'm particularly upset about them playing the blame game at Dreamworld and even the other parks. Claiming that all the rides there are unsafe, and the RHLR incident was somehow related. Some even managed to weave in the Storm Coaster stall a couple weeks back. What people don't seem to realise is that people, real people, were working at the rapids when this happened, and I'm sure they are just as deeply upset as anyone.

Went to the park not to long ago to lay some flowers out the front as a sign of respect, and there are already plenty of flowers placed out the front. Such a horrible thing to happen, and am truly shocked by it all. Thoughts are with the victims and all those involved.

A really dark day for everyone involved. Just out of utter respect and, honestly, quite a bit of shock, I will just extend my sincere condolences to anyone affected by this, especially family members, witnesses and staff members involved. I have no words, this is just horrible.

Well said MickeyD. I'll be doing likewise tomorrow.

I think most of us (minus the crazy people that have come out of the woodwork this afternoon) have come to a likely/logical chain of events that has led to the this tragedy. ive been stopped many times mid raise or drop on the conveyor, and whilst it isn't that steep, i have to say A few times I've thought if there was a shift of weight to the lower end of the tyre could it tip/fall back down the conveyer, and that was my initial thought when I heard the conveyor was involved today. As Alex raised, the key thing appears to be the Conveyor control. I'd imagine (without evidence to back it up) that it would be sensor based and no different to block brakes activating along a track as trains back up in a station. It seems to critical a process to be manually controlled given the gate controller wouldn't be able to constantly be 100% aware of every approaching raft whilst helping guest disembark etc

@Theme Park Girl i think you misread - the raft approaches nose down, but the conveyor caused it to nose up. i'm saying the same as you, in a different way.

Possibly, but the point of my post was to indicate that now is not the time to be even remotely considering such a thing. They haven't even properly started the investigation yet, and that alone is something that is no doubt going to take a lengthy amount of time. It is worth pointing out, however, that the reason the Smiler reopened was with the conclusion that their accident was the consequence of operator error and lack of training, not because of any fault with the actual ride itself. That and whilst there were serious injuries involved, none of them resulted in actual death. Such decisions on whether a ride reopens or not post accident fall on the circumstances surrounding the incident itself. Therefore given we have no idea at this stage as to how and why this happened with River Rapids, it's way too early to be concluding if or when the ride will ever reopen.

Such a misleading article, among other similar ones, that the log ride and river rapids are the same ride. They make it seem that the accident earlier in the year was on the same ride to make DW look irresponsible

It has happened before, with this very ride... Although only one death, and in a different section. This did not stop the park, and the ride from recovering. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roaring_Rapids#Incidents I am slightly concerned at the reports the raft slipped down the lift hill, the timber slat conveyor design is used on all Intamin installations even up to their most recent 2013 builds, if there is a long term wear issue, should this not be part of their maintenance schedule? It is the manufactuerers responsibility to provide the maint schedule of their equipment...

Im sure they will but i think this is likely to see the end of the thunder river rapids and gold rush as a whole

Let's not make assumptions... the police will do their job and let us know if they find a cause... assumptions will just make the scenario worse

Tragic tragic news, my thoughts prayers are with the familes and those who had to witness this shocking incident. Lets just hope nothing like this happens ever again, and that Dreamworld makes a fully recovery. R.I.P ??

Everyone watch ABC News 24 - QPS and Emergency services due to make a statement any minute now

If you're not a party to said contract then I suggest you're unqualified to give advice.

This is absolutely horrible for everyone involved. My condolences to the family and friends of those involved and to staff and responders who have to deal with the situation. The incoming investigation is going to put a huge dampener on the industry. It's going to take a long time to recover from an incident such as this.

Found from a google search: From the video: I'm going to go with yes... Yes it is...

Flash??

Still quite spread out

Only need to read the text on the opening page to see the direction it's headed with it being an extension of DW opposed to a seperate park.

I saw the site today in real life for the first time (from the top of Arkham), f*** it's huge.