Jumping castle inquest looks to NASA dust devil researcher

Key points

• A coronial inquest into the deaths of six children at Hillcrest Primary School in northern Tasmania in 2021 is expected to hear evidence from a US dust devil expert. Counsel assisting the coroner, Maree Norton SC, told a Hobart case management hearing that she is looking to engage Dr Ralph Lorenz, a planetary scientist and aerospace engineer.
• Ms Norton said he would give his opinion on pressure drops and the interaction between the dust devil and the castle structure.
• The six children died when a wind gust lifted a jumping castle at an end-of-year celebration.