As we went to press yesterday (Thursday), the inquest into the death of a 16-year-old girl who fell 120ft from the carriage of a rollercoaster ride at a local theme park, was set to run into a fourth day.

Hayley Liane Williams, of Pontypool, had been visiting Oakwood near Narberth, with family and friends, back in April 2004, when the tragedy struck, as she fell from the Hydro ride as it began to descend.

Opening the inquest on Tuesday at Haverfordwest Crown Court, coroner Michael Howells, said that the investigation into Hayley's death was a 'fact finding' inquiry, to determine how she died and not who was to blame, if anyone.

First to give evidence at the inquiry were members of the group of nine who boarded the ride with Hayley at around 3.30 pm on the afternoon of Thursday, April 15, 2004. Hayley's sister Hannah told the inquiry how Hayley had chosen to sit on the right end side of the ride, one row from the back, as she was one of the 'braver' members in the group.

Passengers in the ride's carriage are instructed to fasten a seat-belt around their waist, before a lap- bar is locked into place in front of them. However, Hannah told the inquiry that no physical checks had been made by any staff members at the park to see that passengers were securely seated.

"Ride assistants walked down the sides of the carriage, but only glanced to see if security bars were in place," explained Hannah.

Indeed, another of Hayley's friends, Miles Mitchell, of Wolverhampton, rode the entire ride without a set-belt fastened, as he was not aware his seat had one.

"It must have been pushed down the side of the seat, but certainly no staff member made any physical checks on any of us towards the back of the ride," he said.

He also pointed out that there had been a problem with the lap bars when they initially dropped into place, and had to be lifted and dropped a second time before the ride began.

The jury was shown a CCTV recording of Hayley, who was wearing a yellow poncho to stop her getting wet, and her friends boarding the 24-seater ride, which drops down a near vertical chute at 50 mph into a plunge pool.

Coroner Michael Howells also reported that the G- force caused by the boat as it descended would have been capable of flipping out someone who was not secure.

Richard Sexton, who was visiting the park with his family, told the inquiry that they had left the Hydro ride until last, and was watching from a bridge below as the accident occurred.

"I could see strange movements towards the back of the boat, and what appeared to be a person who had lifted forward out of the ride," he explained. "They came into contact with the ride as they fell, colliding with the boat on the way down, before freefalling into the water. It seemed to be a clean fall, and the person did not appear to be caught up in any part of the ride. I was completely shocked, but swam out to get to the person," continued Mr. Sexton, who recovered Hayley's body from the water.

"She was laying at an unnatural angle, with a large wound on her chin and not reacting at all," he added.

Other bystanders tried to help, by administrating CPR on Hayley. She was flown by the Air Ambulance to Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest, but after attempts were made to revive her, she was pronounced dead at 4.45 pm.

On the second day of the inquest, the jury heard from mechanical engineer Roger Jones, who had been a specialist inspector for the Health and Safety Executive at the time of the accident.

Mr. Jones told the inquiry that he manually tested all 24 bars and belts on the ride's carriage and thought that they were operating as they should.

However, he revealed that he was able to get out of Hayley's seat unaided, even after pulling the security lap-bar down into place.

"I sat in the seat, pulled the bar towards me and I found that I could get out," he said. "You are actually able to get out of it."

Mr. Jones also explained that the lap-bar or seat- belt would have been enough on their own to prevent an accident, but only if they were being used properly.

"You need the seat belt just in case something goes wrong with the lap-bar," he continued, adding that the importance of the ride operators' safety checks were crucial and that reliance on this system had proved to be "unacceptable."

The management and training staff of Oakwood were due to give evidence at the inquiry yesterday (Thursday), with the coroner and jury expected to pass their verdict today.