A Dreamworld staffer told police after the 2016 Thunder River Rapids Ride tragedy that safety culture at the theme park was “very sound”.

Four people died on the 30-year-old ride after a water pump malfunction on October 25, 2016.

Cindy Low, Kate Goodchild, her brother Luke Dorsett and his partner Roozi Araghi died after their raft collided with another raft on the ride’s conveyor belt.

On Tuesday, the Gold Coast inquest into the deaths was shown a statement that maintenance operator Michael Stead gave to police five days after the tragedy.

“I would say that the safety culture at Dreamworld is very sound,” Mr Stead said in the statement.

Despite the pump failing two other times on the day of the tragedy and twice in the week beforehand, Mr Stead told police the pumps had “good reliability”.

He added he’d heard third-hand talk that Dreamworld was “getting someone” to look at the pump on October 26 because of the repeated previous malfunctions.

I don’t think it was ever stopped, or [it was] just jammed stopped

Earlier the inquest heard Ms Goodchild’s husband David Turner had yelled, “Why didn’t you stop the ride?” after the incident.

Attractions supervisor Sarah Cotter, an experienced operator of the 30-year-old ride, said she believed the ride operator on duty had failed to shut down the conveyor in time to avoid the tragedy.

“There was a raft on an angle – for it to be in that position the conveyor must still have been running through all that time,” she said.

“I don’t think it was ever stopped, or [it was] just jammed stopped.”

She also said that she believed an alarm button that would alert park staff to an emergency had not been pushed during the tragedy, as it should have been.

Earlier, Ms Cotter said she trusted the word of her colleagues that the ride was still safe to operate shortly before the crash.

She said she had told engineers the repeated pump malfunctions were “ridiculous”.

Engineers assured her the problem was fixed but the ride would be shut down for the day if the malfunction happened again and she gave the all-clear for it to resume.

About an hour later, the ride’s south water pump malfunctioned for a third time, leading to the fatal collision.

“I was happy and had the trust in my colleagues that they knew what they were doing,” Ms Cotter told the inquest.

“If they [engineers] say it’s safe and ready to go, I’m going to believe them.”

The inquest continues.

-AAP