| | |
Ms Palaszczuk laid flowers outside the park today where many other floral tributes have been placed.
A recent disaster at Ardent Leisure’s Dreamworld theme park on the Gold Coast resulted in the deaths of four visitors, and the theme park is to remain closed for the duration of the police investigation.
Following criticism from the general public and police advice, Ardent Leisure CEO, Deborah Thomas, has announced the park will not go ahead with their “Memorial Day” reopening this weekend, so as not to impede the ongoing police investigation.
Thomas also announced at a recent press conference that the company had reached out to the families of the victims and had offered them whatever assistance required to get them through this hard time.
This was challenged live on air, as the family of three of the victims was watching and claimed no contact had been made. This was quickly corrected with Thomas making the call and offering to cover the funeral costs for the family. She also made a heartfelt apology during the conference, visibly emotional, Thomas said, “I was just going to say did you say that the Dorsett family were watching? I would like to say to Mrs Dorsett, my sincere sympathies for what you are going through and on behalf of staff and management our hearts and thoughts and prayers are with you.”
Ms Thomas said she sympathised with the families of those affected, and wanted to assist them personally.
“I am a mother, I have a family. I take my family to Dreamworld. This could have been my family and I completely sympathetic to what they must be going through,” she said.
“I hope that I will be able to help them. And if I can’t help them personally, we will make sure we have everything in place to assist them through this tragedy. And that includes counsellors and also financial assistance with the immediate need of the family.”
Ardent Leisure had originally decided to reopen this coming weekend, with all proceeds being donated to the Red Cross. However, the company has released a statement saying, "Dreamworld has been advised by Queensland Police Service that we are unable to proceed with tomorrow's memorial service as planned.
"Obviously the integrity of the coronial investigation is of paramount importance and postponing the service will give QPS the time it needs to conduct this investigation."
There is no update yet as to when the top-earning park will reopen.
Roozbeh Araghi, Luke Dorsett, Kate Goodchild, and Cindy Low were the four victims of the Thunder River Rapids Ride. Highway Games sends our deepest condolences to the families suffering through this difficult time.
428
|
|
|
|
