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Families ‘hold no blame’ for Dreamworld employee

The Thunder River Rapids ride had a history of failures before the multiple fatalities.

The Thunder River Rapids ride had a history of failures before the multiple fatalities. Photo: AAP

A lawyer representing the families of victims from the Dreamworld tragedy has told an inquest they don’t hold any blame towards the man operating the ride that malfunctioned.

Peter Nemeth was the main ride operator of the Thunder River Rapids attraction when Cindy Low, Kate Goodchild, her brother Luke Dorsett and his partner Roozi Araghi died at the Gold Coast theme park.

Mr Nemeth gave evidence at the Southport Coroners Court on Wednesday as part of an inquest into the tragedy.

Before beginning his cross-examination of Mr Nemeth, Barrister Steven Whybrow, acting for Ms Goodchild and Mr Dorsett’s relatives, issued a brief statement.

“They don’t hold you in the least bit responsible for what happened on that day,” Mr Whybrow said.

peter nemeth dreamworld

Mr Nemeth had not been trained to handle large emergencies like the Dreamworld tragedy. Photo: AAP

Mr Nemeth said he had not been criticised by Dreamworld for his actions on the day of the tragedy since the incident.

The inquest was also told of an incident that had occurred at the park’s Log Ride attraction some months before the tragedy.

In April 2016 a man fell from the ride after “skylarking”.

The inquest heard park staff did not know anyone had fallen from the ride until the log returned to the unloading area, in which time another log had actually gone over the person.

Mr Nemeth said as a result of that incident more CCTV cameras were installed on the log ride for operators to monitor guests.

Earlier, the inquest heard Mr Nemeth did not know first aid and hadn’t received any specialist training for large-scale emergencies.

Barrister Michael Hickey, representing Ms Low’s family, asked “were you trained in any way in rescuing passengers who might become trapped on the ride?”.

“No,” Mr Nemeth replied.

A safety record for the ride produced at the inquest showed ride operators had indicated the attraction’s first aid kit was not fully stocked from October 18-23, 2016.

“Most of the items were there, it was usually the number of Band-Aids,” Mr Nemeth said.

“I’m speculating because that was the usual occurrence.”

The inquest continues.

-AAP

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