Families of those killed at the Dreamworld theme park have accused police of failing to give them information about their loved ones after the Thunder River Rapids ride malfunctioned on Tuesday.
Kate Goodchild, from Canberra, her brother Luke Dorsett, his partner, Roozi Araghi and New Zealander Cindy Low were killed when their raft on the ride flipped backwards, throwing them out.
Araghi’s brother, Simon Araghi, told the ABC that he and his family had to resort to calling triple-0 in attempts to obtain information. “We had three of us on hold for well over an hour.”
Araghi denied claims from Queensland police assistant commissioner Brian Codd, that police had been in contact with families from the beginning of their investigation and that they had worked hard to identify the bodies and notify next of kin.
“We are not going to compromise the speed or thoroughness in order for us to vacate the area and acquire the evidence or facts we need,” Codd told reporters.
But Araghi told the ABC on Thursday night that he as yet to hear from police.
Kate Goodchild’s mother-in-law, Gillian Turner, told Nine News: “Until we get answers on how it happened and why it happened I don’t think any of us are going to rest.”
At a press company following Ardent’s AGM on Thursday the company’s CEO, Deborah Thomas, was told that the Dorsett family had said that no one from Ardent Leisure had spoken to them.
Thomas offered to take the family’s phone number and promised to call after the meeting.
“If I can’t help then personally I will ensure we help them in any way possible,” Thomas said.
Later Thomas said she would be donating the $167,500 cash award in her bonus to the Red Cross, to support the victims and their families.
Araghi said he had been contacted by Thomas and another executive on Thursday. “I would have preferred the call a lot earlier,” he told the ABC.
“They apologised and I think wanted to see if they can work through things with us privately, but to be honest it’s not really on our radar at the moment.”
A MyCause fundraising page has been established by a family friend to help the Dorsett family, and had raised $14,000 by Friday morning.
Meanwhile, Hobart radio host Anna Dare has been suspended indefinitely after making an inappropriate comments about the tragedy.
The host of 7HOFM made a comment during a segment where listeners need to guess what a certain sound is: “it’s not getting stuck in a conveyor belt at a theme park is it? ... Too soon?”.
Plans to reopen the theme park on Friday were cancelled following opposition from police, who are still investigating.
