Show community 'devastated' after woman suffers critical injuries 'retrieving phone' from roller-coaster track
A woman remains in a critical condition in hospital after she was struck by the Rebel Coaster ride at Melbourne Royal Show on Sunday.
www.abc.net.au
Investigation continues into Melbourne Royal Show incident that left woman critically injured
A woman remains in a critical condition in hospital after she was struck by a ride at Melbourne Royal Show on Sunday.
WorkSafe is investigating how the 26-year-old came to be hit, however, police have said she may have walked onto the Rebel Coaster's tracks to retrieve a mobile phone.
The ride was suspended after the incident, which happened about 5:45pm at the Melbourne Showgrounds in Ascot Vale.
The roller-coaster remained closed on Monday while investigators worked to piece together the events leading up to the injury, which has overshadowed the return of the Melbourne Royal Show, which was not held in 2020 or 2021.
Early reports yesterday suggested the woman may have fallen from the ride, but show organisers confirmed that was not the case.
Melbourne Royal Show CEO Brad Jenkins said there was not an issue with the Rebel Coaster ride itself.
"It was a tragic accident and by all reports she's gone to recover a phone, it's had nothing to do with the ride itself, a malfunction or anything of that nature," he said.
"I spoke to the operator late last night, they're obviously devastated as well as is the whole show community."
Victorian government minister Sonya Kilkenny said her thoughts were with the injured woman and the show community.
"I understand the matter has been referred to Victoria Police and Worksafe who will now investigate what happened," she said.
Ride operators under insurance stress
Amusement industry figure Damian De Jong, who runs ride supplier Action Events, said the incident would leave a lasting impact on the show community.
"It's terrible when things like this happen, it's just not good for the industry, it's not good for the person who's been injured, it's a terrible incident," he said.
Amusement ride operators have spoken of how insurance providers have pulled out of the sector, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr De Jong said insurance premiums in the amusement ride sector had risen by 400 per cent over the last three years, forcing many ride operators to leave the industry.
"We're all living on borrowed time in our industry because the insurance company highly regulates us as well and if [the Rebel Coaster operator] loses his insurance he can't operate, he's out of business."
| critically injured | 중상 | tragic | 비극적인, 비극의 |
| be struck (strike분사) | 치다, 부딪히다, 때리다 / 파업 / 공격, 공습 | malfunction | 오작동, 제대로 작동하지 않음 |
| remain in a critical condition | 중태에 빠지다 | refer to | ~에 조회하다, ~에 적용되다. ~에게 문의하다 |
| retrieve | 되찾아오다 / 검색하다 / 수습하다 | figure | 저명인사, 인물 |
| suspended | 매달다, 걸다 / 중단하다 / 연기하다 | pull out | 떠나다, 손을 떼다 |
| lead up to | ~에 이르다 | insurance premium | 보험료 |
| overshadow | 무색하게 만들다 / 그늘이 드리우다 | regulate | 규제하다 / (기계 등의 속도 온도 등을)조절하다 |
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