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Australia's Dreamworld theme park to reopen after ride deaths | Australia's Dreamworld theme park to reopen after ride deaths |
(about 2 hours later) | |
Australia's Dreamworld theme park will reopen on 10 December, six weeks after four people died in a ride malfunction. | |
Two victims were thrown from the Thunder River Rapids ride and two were trapped inside in the tragedy on 25 October. | Two victims were thrown from the Thunder River Rapids ride and two were trapped inside in the tragedy on 25 October. |
Dreamworld said it would demolish the ride and conduct a "multi-level" independent safety review. | |
The park, on Queensland's Gold Coast, will reopen with a charity weekend in time for local school holidays. | |
The families of the victims - Kate Goodchild, 32, Luke Dorsett, 35, Roozbeh Araghi, 38, and Cindy Low, 42 - are understood to have been informed about the development. | |
Dreamworld's owner Ardent Leisure said the attraction and its adjoining water park, Whitewater World, would only offer rides that had passed rigorous safety checks. | |
"Dreamworld's other rides will progressively open as they are signed off as part of the safety review process," the company said in a statement. | |
Dreamworld chief Craig Davidson said four independent safety investigations will have been conducted by 10 December. | |
One investigation, by Queensland Workplace Health and Safety, last week issued seven improvement notices for Dreamworld and Whitewater World. | |
The investigation found a faded "emergency stop" button on the Green Room Waterslide, outdated protective equipment on the Flowrider and a register to notify authorities about storing hazardous chemicals. | |
Mr Davidson said Dreamworld would donate A$25 (£15; $19) to the Red Cross for every ticket sold at the "Open Hearts - Open Doors" charity weekend. | |
In a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange, Ardent Leisure said the closure of both parks throughout November 2016 would "result in no significant revenue being recorded for that month". | |
It noted that the parks earned A$7.6m in the corresponding period last year. | |
Ardent said the parks incurred operating costs of between A$4m and A$4.2m for the period and that the company expected to incur "one-off costs of A$1.6m associated with the tragedy" through insurance claims. | |
A coroner's investigation into the deaths is ongoing. | |
Dreamworld has hosted 30 million people since opening in 1981, with October's tragedy its first fatal accident. |