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Speaker 1: Approache production.

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Speaker 2: I woke up at seven in the morning.

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Speaker 1: I went to work for a normal day, unlock the park,

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Speaker 1: a dream world set up all the staff. At around

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Speaker 1: three ten pm on the sixteenth of October twenty sixteen,

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Speaker 1: we got a call on the two way radio saying

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Speaker 1: it was a Code gray, which was pretty much all

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Speaker 1: hands on deck. Bear in mind we hadn't been trained

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Speaker 1: for anything like this. When I got to the Thunder

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Speaker 1: River Rapids ride, sadly four people had lost their life

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Speaker 1: and it wasn't a very graceful way to exit, and

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Speaker 1: the injuries they incurred were fatal. And I'm going to

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Speaker 1: leave it at MESSI Its images you don't don't see

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Speaker 1: every day, thank God. And again I don't want to

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Speaker 1: see him again. But you know when when you see

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Speaker 1: a young lady who you welcomed into the park because

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Speaker 1: it's a quiet day with her three friends, and I

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Speaker 1: tell them, you know, you're going to have a wonderful day.

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Speaker 1: It's quiet, You're gonna have a great day. And you know,

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Speaker 1: six hours later, I'm watching her eyes from under the

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Speaker 1: water gaze up at me, vacant and rousy. A gay

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Speaker 1: god addressed his soul. Anyway, there were there were people

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Speaker 1: missing ahead and body. It was messy and they were

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Speaker 1: caught in the conveyor belt. I dealt with the partner

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Speaker 1: on the day and did what I could with the

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Speaker 1: paramedics and the police, and also that day and my

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Speaker 1: man I I people don't understand. They try and bring

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Speaker 1: the memory back. I can tell you now what color

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Speaker 1: clothes they were wearing, the helicopter above the smell of

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Speaker 1: the rubbish spin I can tell you what they were wearing.

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Speaker 1: The kids, it's the husband. I can tell you absolutely

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Speaker 1: every minute detail of it. Not that I think about

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Speaker 1: it a lot, but it never leaves my head.

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Speaker 2: So I.

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Speaker 1: Rallied, and my manager at the time actually said Clancy,

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Speaker 1: I can't cope with his I sent her to my office.

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Speaker 2: I sectioned off.

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Speaker 1: The area with my security guards, sent the kids of

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Speaker 1: one of the fatalities to the ice cream shop with

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Speaker 1: my staff to get them out of the scene. The

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Speaker 1: partner of one of the fatalities ripped a rubbish bin

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Speaker 1: off a post and threw it, and he was furious.

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Speaker 1: I totally get why he was, and as much as

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Speaker 1: I tried to calm him down, in the end, I

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Speaker 1: just said let him go. He's just got to get

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Speaker 1: it out. As a side note that the tragedy of

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Speaker 1: that in itself two years ago, he couldn't come to

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Speaker 1: terms still with the loss of his partner and he

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Speaker 1: killed himself down the South coast, and it's it's a

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Speaker 1: tragedy that keeps. People don't see the ripple effect that

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Speaker 1: has caused a lot of children, and the children now

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Speaker 1: are missing both parents because he couldn't cope without her.

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Speaker 1: They were childhood sweethearts.

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Speaker 3: And they had they had children as well. Three Yeah, goodness, and.

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Speaker 1: It I was there that night till around I think

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Speaker 1: one point thirty two am the following day when we

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Speaker 1: finally when forensics arrived and the coroner.

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Speaker 3: Sorry, can I just and please don't I'm not trying

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Speaker 3: to be rude. I'm just trying to process that time

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Speaker 3: frame between the incident occurring, yep, what you had to endure,

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Speaker 3: see and everybody else who was there, the emergency services,

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Speaker 3: and two then how many hours later before forensics.

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Speaker 2: So nothing at the crime scene.

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Speaker 3: As well as it would have been called at that stage,

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Speaker 3: nothing could be moved or touched. Everything had to have

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Speaker 3: just stayed paused. Yep, as it was as you just described,

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Speaker 3: and beyond. Excuse me, I'm just trying to be very

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Speaker 3: gentle in my words, but I'm a little bit fathomed

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Speaker 3: at how many hours that scene was there and how

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Speaker 3: that must play in yours and everybody else's minds constantly.

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Speaker 3: I mean, it's bad enough when we experience something bang

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Speaker 3: and flash, you know, or an accident bangs. It's the

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Speaker 3: after math, we get that. But this is like that

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Speaker 3: horror scene is literally paused as it was at its

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Speaker 3: worst part.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it was made straight up.

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Speaker 1: I'd like to say I recalled and put into place

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Speaker 1: all the protocols, et cetera. But as true as I

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Speaker 1: sit here now, all I did, buddy, was I went

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Speaker 1: into this order pilot put a screen up, and it

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Speaker 1: was tough, but someone had to do it, you know,

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Speaker 1: And I had this shield, if you like. And the

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Speaker 1: only time that broke there was a fireman in the

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Speaker 1: raft that went down, and I was taking a statement

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Speaker 1: from him at about seven o'clock, eight o'clock at night,

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Speaker 1: and he said, mate, I was doing this, and then

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Speaker 1: I could see it vicariously through his eyes, and I

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Speaker 1: started to quiver, and I had to hand him to

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Speaker 1: someone else to put a blanket around him. And take

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Speaker 1: him because I had to get back to autopilot. And

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Speaker 1: all I recalled was every die Hard movie, every Catastrophe movie.

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Speaker 1: I'd seen what they do. They coughting it off, they

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Speaker 1: section it off, they get the public away, and that's

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Speaker 1: what came into play.

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Speaker 2: That's truly what I did. And so for you, it

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Speaker 2: was more fight or flight. Absolutely. I look I.

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Speaker 1: For years, I kept asking why me. Now I say,

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Speaker 1: I'm so stoked it was me, because we'll get to

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Speaker 1: it later. But I don't know if anyone else would.

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Speaker 1: I'm not saying they would have coped any differently, but

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Speaker 1: I wouldn't wish this upon anyone else. And I'm glad

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Speaker 1: I carried it.

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Speaker 2: I just I see, I see.

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Speaker 3: And go back to what we're saying at the start

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Speaker 3: about chat about you as a human and a person.

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Speaker 3: How relative is what we're talking about now about your personality,

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Speaker 3: the way you've seen life and how you dealt with

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Speaker 3: the traumas and negativities that were around you, to then

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Speaker 3: be led years into your life to this horrific, extremely

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Speaker 3: sad day.

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Speaker 2: Yeah it was.

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Speaker 1: It was a tough one. I don't know the words

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Speaker 1: that say it. However, I'll give it a shot what

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Speaker 1: we saw that day. I know you people on here

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Speaker 1: with fantastic stories, and I love them right, and I

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Speaker 1: know some of them are pretty violent and things like that.

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Speaker 1: But I think for me, I'd never seen a body.

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Speaker 1: I'd never witnessed carnage like that. I'd never been in

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Speaker 1: that environment. And I challenged most people to say they

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Speaker 1: have in that in the fun theme.

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Speaker 2: Park, to have four fatalities.

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Speaker 3: A family fun theme park where lots of happy kids

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Speaker 3: and mums and dads. Yeah, save lots of money to

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Speaker 3: come and experience that. A Georgia the dream that may

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Speaker 3: never get to dream will but that was close enough

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Speaker 3: for them.

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Speaker 1: One hundred percent. And so look like I say, I

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Speaker 1: drove home. My wife was waiting up for me, God

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Speaker 1: bless her, and she said, do you want to talk

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Speaker 1: about it? And I remember us sitting on the bed

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Speaker 1: and I looked at her at three in the morning

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Speaker 1: and I said, sweetheart, all I can say is, don't

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Speaker 1: ever tell me you had a bad day at work,

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Speaker 1: because I've had the mother of the mare. I jumped

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Speaker 1: in shower, washed it off. Next day, I was back

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Speaker 1: there at seven point thirty, and I'll tell you something

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Speaker 1: I couldn't in an instant, despite advice, I had one

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Speaker 1: hundred and ten staff. There is no way I could

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Speaker 1: not be there for those guys.

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Speaker 3: And be that leader and be camp there to care

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Speaker 3: and show your compassion and be you.

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Speaker 1: You know, mate, they imagine you work there twenty years.

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Speaker 1: I didn't, but some of them did. This has happened.

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Speaker 1: It's all over the news. It's like media city out

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Speaker 1: the front of dream World. There's tens for Channel seven

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Speaker 1: and ten.

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Speaker 2: And I personally think it was disgusting the way that

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Speaker 2: it all went down.

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Speaker 3: It was horrific the outside looking in, just the lack

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Speaker 3: of respect for those lives lost and the families and

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Speaker 3: loved ones, and.

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Speaker 2: Just the whole media scrum around.

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Speaker 3: It and what was being put out and what was

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Speaker 3: being said and how it was worded.

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Speaker 2: Yep, it was putrid, mate unnecessary.

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Speaker 3: Completely the media has to take and we're not going

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Speaker 3: to get off track here, but just there is ownership,

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Speaker 3: and the ownership lays with them, you know, because there's

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Speaker 3: a lot of words, things and pain that they'll never

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Speaker 3: take away that people had to experience and go through

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Speaker 3: due to the ill informed Or let's let's grab a

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Speaker 3: headline and make it as we see fit like they

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Speaker 3: love to do well.

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Speaker 1: I learned very fast, mate. If the media kick off

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Speaker 1: a news update and it says there are unconfirmed reports,

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Speaker 1: it's bullshit.

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Speaker 2: That's what I learned.

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Speaker 1: Every time they lead in with unconfirmed it's their making

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Speaker 1: it up. The stories that came out of that were unbelievable.

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Speaker 1: We couldn't walk from our cars to the entrance without

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Speaker 1: mobs of media and some of the stuff. Found that

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Speaker 1: pretty horrific and very intimidate.

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Speaker 3: How did you find that? Honestly, I mean, in your mind,

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Speaker 3: you know that you're going to be confronted with this scrum.

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Speaker 3: You know that you're turning up there to lead your team,

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Speaker 3: to be there to show that as much as internally you're.

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Speaker 2: Just absolutely in pieces.

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Speaker 3: You've accepted the responsibility of your task, your leadership, your job.

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Speaker 3: But you then, before you even get into that gate

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Speaker 3: to time and put that smile on your face or

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Speaker 3: show that compassion, you've got to deal with a bunch

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Speaker 3: of fucking idiots in your face, wanting answers, demanding questions,

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Speaker 3: ten people just yelling at you left rights.

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Speaker 2: What how did you deal with that moment?

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Speaker 3: Because honestly, I couldn't imagine seeing you become aggressive of violent,

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Speaker 3: but I'm sure that there was a burning fire within

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Speaker 3: you that wanted to just go fuck off.

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Speaker 2: I don't recall feeling that.

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Speaker 1: What I recall is again for that I worked there

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Speaker 1: three months after, But I remember walking in and I

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Speaker 1: put my head down and it was like there was

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Speaker 1: no one else that I was in a bubble, like

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Speaker 1: my own little world, and I didn't care who spoke

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Speaker 1: to me, who tapped me on the shoulder, what microphone

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Speaker 1: was shoved in. I just kept walking, and I thought,

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Speaker 1: all I have to do, I'd focus on the door

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Speaker 1: or the gate and head down straight in. What I've

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Speaker 1: learned too, Mate, is the template they used for dream

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Speaker 1: World when the fatalities occurred. They used for every tragedy.

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Speaker 1: It's the same template on TV, on the news, and

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Speaker 1: they just put different photos in. When the helicopter crash

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Speaker 1: happened on Yes over a sea World, I.

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Speaker 3: Have another friend who was actually there in his boat

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Speaker 3: and pieces of the chopper fell upon him and his family.

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Speaker 2: Yep, and see that triggers me.

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Speaker 1: But Mate, I was driving home two months after it

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Speaker 1: down the end one at nine point thirty at night

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Speaker 1: because it was summer trading in the park was back

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Speaker 1: open and I locked up the park, walked out and

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Speaker 1: I held a post.

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Speaker 2: I thought, shit, I'm dying. I started sweating, it starts shaking,

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Speaker 2: couldn't breathe.

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Speaker 3: Shit.

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Speaker 1: So I made it to the car phone, phoned animal

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Speaker 1: wife and I said, mate, I think I'm dying.

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Speaker 2: Plahla chl