A 63-year-old man has been crushed to death by a camel at the Winton Camel Races in central western Queensland.
The man was riding the camel in the races when it tripped and fell on top of him. The man, from Bundaberg in southern Queensland, was pronounced dead on arrival at Winton hospital.
The tragedy cast a massive shadow over the much-loved Winton Camel Races, which are popular with grey nomads.
“We will continue our investigations into the matter,” Inspector Mark Henderson told the ABC. “We’re obviously looking at the riding gear, we’re looking at the track conditions, and we will also make a number of other inquiries through Queensland Racing, Workplace Health and Safety and other organisations involved … and submit a report to the corner in due course.”
Inspector Henderson says the man had been a lifelong expert at riding horses and other animals.
“He was new to the sport of camel racing, having raced about three weeks I’m led to believe, but an experienced rider of animals and this is certainly a tragedy,” he told the ABC. “His wife was at the track at the time of the incident and family have flown in from around the state and interstate to be with her.”
Thank you for mentioning my sisters husband who passed away at the Winton Camel Races on the 27th July 2013. His name was Richard Brook and his wife was Gina, they were from Milton Ulladulla but they moved to Bundaberg because it was warmer for them there. They had been travelling for sometime and were retired. They loved life and enjoyed meeting the rest of the grey nomads, they mentioned to me how lovely you all are and i would like to take the opportunity to say thank you to everyone in making them welcome. My husband and I were going to meet them up at Mount Isa in a few weeks but now things have changed as we cancelled our holidays to support Gina. Richie will sadly be missed. Thank you everyone for your suppo. Kind Regards