Photo: ReutersDreamworld's parent company has pleaded guilty to charges over the fatal Thunder River Rapids ride tragedy in Australia that killed four people, including a New Zealand woman, in 2016. However, Dreamworld executives responsible for the Queensland park's safety escaped individual prosecution after four tourists died on October 25 in 2016 when they were thrown into the mechanism of the Thunder River Rapids ride. Prosecutors had filed three charges under the Work Health and Safety Act that carry a combined maximum penalty of $A4.5 million ($NZ4.8 million) in the Brisbane Magistrates Court. Barrister Bruce Hodgkinson, who appeared for Ardent Leisure, said the company would plead guilty to all three charges. The inquest also found there had been no thorough engineering risk assessment of the Thunder River Rapids in the 30 years it was open to the public.

Source: Otago Daily Times July 29, 2020 03:11 UTC