Leslie Castaneda, who was at Schlitterbahn on Sunday, told The Kansas City Star that she saw Calebs crumpled shorts or bathing suit at the bottom of the ride, along with blood on the slides white descending flume. The women suffered minor facial injuries.
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A Kansas City newspaper says the water slide has not been inspected by the state since it opened two years ago. Castaneda also said that he had ridden Verruckt earlier in the day with his younger cousin, who said her Velcro seatbelt began to come undone toward the end of the slide.
The Verrückt was named the World’s Tallest Water Slide in 2014. Riders are strapped into rafts before traveling downhill at speeds of 60 to 70 miles per hour.
Authorities are still investigating what happened.
Each of these attractions is state-certified and Gannon said Zoombezi Bay’s has had a safe history in the park’s nine years.
A park website description of the water slide says two to three people are typically strapped to a raft and then sent down a “jaw-dropping” 168-foot, 7-inch (51.4 meter) slide. “Verruckt will not reopen for the remainder of the season”.
Caleb’s father and mother Michele issued a statement Sunday night regarding their son’s tragic death.
Verrückt – which literally translates to “insane” from German – and the rest of the Schlitterbahn Water Park have now been closed pending the investigation into Caleb’s death.
Park spokeswoman Winter Prosapio said the park’s rides are inspected every day and that an outside party inspects them at the start of the season.
Documents released Tuesday by the state department showed that in June 2012, a records audit found that the park was not maintaining records of testing for current and previous years. Reports do not indicate how the boy knew the women who rode the slide with him, or how exactly he sustained the injuries that led to his death.
The 2014 opening of Verruckt was delayed a few times, though the operators did not explain why. “As we try and mend our home with him no longer with us, we are comforted knowing he believed in his savior, Jesus, and they are forever together now”.
Although he has not seen or ridden Verruckt, Martin said a more solid restraint system that fits over the body – similar to those used in roller coasters – may have been better.
The tragedy in Kansas has parents anxious about waterslides and water parks. Two of those lawsuits involved mishaps on the 3,000-foot King Kaw inner tube ride in man-made rapids, and all of the cases were settled out of court for undisclosed sums.
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Ten-year-old Schwab died Sunday riding the Verrückt waterslide at Schlitterbahn in Kansas City, Kansas.
