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Dreamworld tragedy was a one-in-834-million incident: expert

Amusement park rides are safer than flying and scuba diving.

Amusement park rides are safer than flying and scuba diving. Photo: AAP

The chance of getting killed on an amusement park ride is one in 834 million, an engineer says.

The rides are safer than flying on a plane or going scuba diving, according to David Eager, who sits on Standards Australia’s amusement rides and devices committee.

“The number of deaths on an amusement ride is one in 834 million rides. Aeroplanes is one in 125 million rides. You go scuba diving and that’s one in 200,000 dives,” he told ABC radio on Wednesday.

“Statistically, they are very safe.”

But Mr Eager said people do get thrown out of rides and the deaths on Tuesday were a tragedy.

“When we get catastrophic events like this, where people are killed, they (the risks) are now amplified in people’s minds,” he said.

Meanwhile, several Dreamworld visitors have reported problems earlier in the day on the Thunder River Rapids ride that killed four people, and that the park summoned engineers to repair it.

Fairfax media reported New Zealand tourists, Kaylah Walker, 25, and her mother Lisa Walker, that the ride had not been working earlier in the day.

“Earlier in the day it had broken down,” Lisa Walker told Fairfax.

“It had broken down and we went back a couple of times to this particular ride.

“We were standing on the bridge watching and the water had stopped.”

Another witness told Nine News that had waited for around half an hour for engineers to come and repair the ride.

“They drained all the water out and then had to refill it back up, and then we were allowed to go. But, yeah, we were stuck there for about 30-40 minutes at least,” the woman said.

More than 30 investigators are involved in the investigation into the fatal Dreamworld ride accident, that has left four dead.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says they will remain at the scene of the Gold Coast theme park on Wednesday and take statements from witnesses.

“Today, the focus will turn to the ride itself and what policies and procedures were in place for that particular ride,” she told the Seven Network on Wednesday.

The cause of the accident remains unknown and Dreamworld Management said they are “deeply shocked and saddened” by the deaths.

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