Four killed on Dreamworld ride in Australia

A spokesperson for Australia's largest themepark, Dreamworld, confirmed two men and two women died in the accident on the Thunder River Rapids ride.

The ride is a water-based raft ride using a conveyor belt. The accident took place at about 2:20pm Queensland time, when the ride suffered some form of “malfunction”, which caused two people to be thrown from the six-person vessel and two people to be trapped by the underwater conveyor belt.

"One of the rides sustained a malfunction, causing two people to be ejected from a ride, and the other two were caught inside the ride," Queensland Ambulance spokesman Gavin Fuller said during a press conference.

Earlier reports had said that the ride had flipped and two people were trapped underneath the raft. Two other riders are said to have escaped.

Fuller confirmed that two women and two men were aged between 32 and their early 40s, but that they have not all been formally identified.

He would not comment in any detail on how or where they were trapped or the nature of their injuries.

The incident will be subject to a coronial investigation.

Dreamworld said in a statement it was "working as quickly as possible to establish the facts around the incident".

"Dreamworld's focus and priority is with the families of those involved in this tragedy and will be providing an update to the public as soon as information becomes available," it added.

According to Reuters news agency, when asked if there were any earlier problems with the ride, Todd Reid, an inspector with Queensland Police, said, "I’m not aware, but that will be part of the investigation."

"We are now working together with the park to try to determine how this tragic incident occurred."

The Gold Coast theme park has since been closed until further notice.