Witness of rollercoaster tragedy reveals grim details: 'Haven't been able to sleep'
The man who filmed the horrific moment Melbourne woman Shylah Rodden was hit by a rollercoaster has shared new details about how the accident unfolded.
Jordan, who didn't reveal his last name, said he "hasn't been able to sleep" since witnessing the 26-year-old climb onto the tracks and get swept up by the ride.
He told 7 News he was standing nearby watching the Rebel Coaster ride while his sister and his partner were on it. He began filming them on his phone, but he had no idea what was about to happen.
"It all happened so quickly but so slowly," he said.
"All of a sudden, I saw someone getting taken up but at the same time I’m thinking 'f***, my sister, my partner'," explaining they were sitting in the front carriage of the ride.
"I didn’t hear her scream. The screams that I heard came from onlookers, I think. It happened so fast."
Woman's actions before tragedy strikes
Jordan said he was waiting for his sister and partner to jump on. In that time, he noticed Ms Rodden and the other workers.
He'd just watched the previous ride while his loved ones awaited their turn and he "saw something drop" from the ride but "didn’t know what it was".
Now, Jordan thinks it was probably the phone authorities say Ms Rodden was attempting to retrieve when she was hit by the high-speed carriage which put her in a coma.
"We saw a lady in an area where she shouldn’t be. A worker told her to get away but we couldn’t hear the whole conversation, she just told her not to be there. That person started to walk away and I didn’t think much of it," he explained.
Show workers previously told the Herald Sun they'd told Ms Rodden they would collect her phone shortly, but that she'd have to wait 20 minutes until they stopped the ride.
Horrified onlookers thought she'd 'thrown herself' onto the tracks
Jordan began filming when the ride his sister and partner were on began.
The footage, which he later shared on TikTok, accidentally captured Ms Rodden standing by the tracks. She appears to be looking down and not looking at the carriage.
Jordan said she'd "put her foot in between the post and started to bend down," presumably to grab her phone. And that when she was hit.
From the carriage, "it looked like someone had thrown themselves in front of it," his sister and partner told him. But from where he was standing it was clear that she was "so fixated on picking [something] up that she didn’t even see the ride".
The ride was shut down immediately with people stuck mid-air for up to 45 minutes before they were eventually moved manually.
It took just minutes for emergency services to rush in, Jordan said, with police arriving first.
Jordan revealed that he's never experienced anything like it and said he "hopes it never happens again".
Royal Melbourne show announced on Tuesday the ride had been cleared to reopen following an investigation to determine the ride was safe.
Ms Rodden's family said they were "appalled" by the decision to reopen the ride so soon.
The 26-year-old remains in hospital in a critical condition.
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