Two children survived being thrown from the doomed Thunder River Rapids ride at a theme park in Australia and screamed in horror as their mothers were killed, it has emerged.
Initial investigations into the accident suggest that the raft collided with an empty vessel that had become stuck near the end of the ride, it has been reported.
The raft is believed to have flipped due to the collision, crushing and drowning two men, aged 35 and 38, and two women, aged 42 and 32, about 2.20pm today on the Gold Coast, in Queensland.
Those killed include Canberra woman Kate Goodchild (née Dorsett), 32, her brother Luke Dorsett, partner Roozi Araghi and a 42-year-old woman.
Ms Goodchild's daughter is understood to have been one of the children thrown to safety from the raft and screamed in horror as she watched her mother die, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The mother of the Dorsett siblings, Kim, took to Facebook to express her grief.
'My family has been completely wiped out,' she said.
'I have three children and two of them are now gone. My eight-month-old granddaughter is never going to know her mother and that truly breaks my heart.'