Four dead in river rapids ride accident at Dreamland in Australia

bjames said:
Really?!? Then maybe this isn't the place I belong...before you know it we won't be talking about wooden coasters or anything built before 2002 ever again here either...

What's your point?

I worked on Rapids for a couple of seasons at California's Great America a quarter century ago. My experience left me with the impression that these types of rides are the most dangerous out there. We had rafts with guests tip on multiple occasions. So sad.

I've heard of rafts on these rides flipping in the past... are the accidents on rides with smaller rafts? It seems the larger (is it 12 riders?) would take a lot more to cause them to flip. The 6 passenger rafts always feel like they can flip easier.

Any of them can flip. A raft on the 12 passenger version at SFOT fatally capsized back in 1999.

To the best of my recollection, that incident at SFoT created a groundswell of industry safety regulations around rapids rides, but now wondering if that was involving just US parks. The BGT closure is likely precautionary while physical and operational safeguards are reviewed. It is really hard to imagine that no one was able to e-stop the ride - you've got employees getting guests on the ride, employees helping guests off the ride, at least one board operator. Guess it's possible they were distracted...?

Truly horrific and sad, prayers for those lost and the survivors...

It probably took no more than a couple of seconds to happen. The board operator has a large area to monitor. That being said, I'm guessing that this area was the closest to the board. That's just a guess. Also, if you were to hit E-stop, I'm guessing it wouldn't stop abruptly...there would be a little momentum. Again. All guessing here.

Yeah there would be a little momentum, the raft may still flip or dump the passengers, but it sounds like the victims didn't drown. My take is the conveyor is what killed them? I'm picturing something similar to that accident in China(?) where the lady threw her child to safety as she fell through the grate at the top of the escalator...