A rollercoaster rider has taken a modest but significant step toward healing.
Following the incident at the Melbourne Royal Show on the evening of October 25, 26-year-old Shylah Rodden was left battling for her life.
Her status is now “severe” as opposed to “critical,” according to a spokesman from the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
After being struck by a rollercoaster carriage that was travelling at a speed of about 70 km/h, Ms. Rodden sustained shattered bones and a brain injury.
Eyewitnesses reported that she appeared “fixated” on something on the ground and that she may have walked onto the rollercoaster tracks to grab her phone after it had dropped out of her pocket.
A graphic video of the incident that showed Ms. Rodden being pulled nine metres in the air before falling to the ground was published to TikTok.
The jarring image will not be published by NCA NewsWire.
The man who recorded the image claimed that he unintentionally recorded the sad event while photographing his sister and partner on the trip.
“All of a sudden, I saw someone getting taken up but at the same time I’m thinking ‘f***, my sister, my partner,” he told 7 News.
“But you can see she’d bent down to pick something up. I don’t know if it was a phone or what, but she was so fixated on picking it up that she didn’t even see the ride at all.”
The fenced-off area may have been breached by Ms. Rodden in order to collect her phone, according to authorities.
After WorkSafe completed an inspection report and determined it was safe to reopen, the Rebel Coaster reopened on Tuesday.
“It appears at this early stage the woman, believed aged in her 20s, may have walked on and entered the track to try and retrieve a dropped phone before she was hit by a roller-coaster carriage, about 5.45pm,” a Victoria Police spokesperson said.
“The safety and wellbeing of our visitors to the Show continues to be our number one priority,” A Melbourne Royal Show spokesperson said.
“We uphold strict safety protocols in line with Victorian WorkSafe regulations and all rides on site have undergone stringent compliance inspections.
“No ride is turned on until it has passed all the required safety and compliance documentation.”
