The Kansas water park where 10-year-old Caleb Schwab died on the world’s tallest waterslide will reopen Wednesday, but the waterslide itself will remain closed for the rest of the 2016 season, the park said Tuesday.
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Schlitterbahn spokeswoman Winter Prosapio said the child died on one of the park’s main attractions, Verruckt, a 168-foot-tall (51-metre) water slide that has 264 stairs leading to the top. In Kansas, parks are overseen by the state Department of Labor, which said today that, while “safety reviews and regulatory compliances fall to various entities”, parks in the state are required to have an annual safety inspection by officials licensed by the National Association of Amusement Ride Safety Officials.
A family spokesman, the Rev. Clint Sprague, says visitation will be held Thursday evening at LifeMission Church in Olathe.
Mr Castaneda told ABC News that he noticed a lifeguard was trying to push the crowd back from the slide, but he continued to try to help because he thought there was someone lying face down in the water.
Authorities still aren’t certain of the circumstances that surrounded the accident, but police officials said Monday night that a neck injury directly led to his death.
The Kansas boy who was killed tragically at a water park on Sunday suffered a “fatal neck injury,” police have revealed. The other passengers sustained minor facial injuries.
“The slide itself made a noise that didn’t sound right and that’s when I turned around”, Jess Sanford said. Riders go down the slide in multi-person rafts and have to be at last 54 inches tall, according to the park’s website.
“The waterslide in Kansas City is a completely unique water slide”, he said.
The man also said both women were not comfortable describing the accident at this point.
Kansas City Police have declined to give interviews or press conferences regarding the investigation, which they say is ongoing.
Schwab was the son of Kansas state Representative Scott Schwab.
The 2014 opening of Verruckt was delayed a few times, though the operators did not explain why.
Verruckt water slide opened in 2014 after four delays due to safety issues.
One witness reported said the son of a Kansas state legislator apeared to have been decapitated after flying off a waterslide and hitting a safety net.
The Schwabs released a statement following their son’s death.
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The tragic incident occurred on elected officials day Sunday, a day on which elected officials and their families were given free admission to the water park and lunch.
