Tonight's must-watch episode features interviews with witnesses and investigators who have never spoken before, interrogating claims by police that the fire was nothing more than a terrible accident.
| | | | | Hi, Its Caro Meldrum-Hanna and Patrick Begley |
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We’re back to give you some inside information about the upcoming episode 2 of the ABC’s new investigative documentary series EXPOSED:The Ghost Train Fire.
Tonight night we’re going to take you inside the police investigation. What we’ve found is probably going to make you angry. But it is time for the full truth to be told, not in our words but in the words of those who have lived to tell the tale.
If justice is to be done, their stories need to be heard by as many of us as possible.
Last week we introduced you to the courageous families of the six children and one man who died at Sydney’s iconic Luna Park on a cold winter’s night in June 1979.
We forensically pieced together how a fire started deep inside the popular Ghost Train ride, tracking down multiple witnesses who rode the train and saw the very early stages of the fire, as well as the survivors who managed to escape the inferno.
They’d all gone for a final spin around the spooky track just before closing time. The ride itself had been operating since 1935. It had no history of major incidents and certainly no history of fires. It had been inspected three times in the previous six months by government inspectors, each time cleared as satisfactory mechanically, structurally, and electrically. But the train was old, safety standards were not what they are now, and the ride was made of highly flammable materials.
Inside the Ghost Train was a longstanding feature: an imitation fireplace nestled in a dark corner just before the end of the ride. It was here that a mysterious fire began, a real fire in a fake one. At first, little flames dancing in the hearth.
It was the perfect picture. So perfect, so visually “devious”, it fooled the riders that rode by.
Within minutes those little dancing flames had breached a black partition wall, the flames licked across the ceilings, furious red tongues igniting everything they touched. Soon the southern end of the labyrinthine ride had turned into a series of inescapable chambers of roaring fire.
Seven people would never make it out alive: John Godson and his two little boys Craig and Damien. And four schoolboy best mates.
The next day, the officer assigned to lead the investigation for NSW Police fronted the cameras and told Australia the fire was just a terrible accident, an electrical fault. He assured the nation - and all those grieving families - that there were no suspicious circumstances, and nothing pointing to arson.
Tonight we’re going to show you that what that police officer said on 10 June 1979 was a lie.
Witnesses have finally agreed to talk. They’re coming out of the woodwork, breaking silences that have spanned 42 long years. And they have very disturbing stories to tell.
You will hear how and why some still fear for their lives to this day.
Please join us tonight at 8:30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview for episode 2 of EXPOSED:The Ghost Train Fire.
If you missed episode 1, catch up right here on ABC iview.
From Caro, Patrick & the EXPOSED team. |
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| | The prosecutor assisting the 1979 Ghost Train fire inquest has slammed the detective in charge of the police investigation, describing his conduct as "criminal" and a perversion of the course of justice. | | READ ARTICLE | |
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| "You've got six children and a man incinerated and claims of corruption so you're treading in really tricky and perilous places here." | | READ ARTICLE | |
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