What was supposed to be a fun day at the water park turned into disaster for a couple when their 10-year-old son died while riding the world’s tallest water slide.
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Pat Pettey, a state senator whose district covers the park, attended the elected officials day event with her daughter and 17-year-old grandson.
Emergency crews rushed to Schlitterbahn Water Park Sunday afternoon, responding to what’s being called an accident.
Specific details about the circumstances of the accident were not immediately available, but Kansas City Police Chief Terry Zeigler confirmed that officers were investigating an apparent accidental death at the Schlitterbahn resort. “We have to understand what happened”.
In the statement, Caleb’s parents expressed their gratitude for people’s compassion.
“Our lifeguards are critical and it will be hard for them to focus after something like this so for that reason we felt it was wise to close the park”.
Consumer Product Safety Commission statistics for 2015 are not available, but a review of the raw data found 45,000 injuries associated with amusement rides and water slides nationwide; about 30,000 of these cases involved those under age 18. “Given that safety is our first priority, we have closed our Kansas City park and we have closed the ride pending a full investigation”, Prosapio said.
The family issued a statement revealing that Caleb had died, and asking for privacy as they grieve.
“We honestly don’t know what’s happened”, a spokesperson for the park said.
“My thoughts and prayers are with rep. Scott Schwab and his family at this devastating time”. Riders go down the slide in multi-person rafts and have to be at last 137 centimetres tall, the park’s website says. “We will see him another day”, the Schwab’s said. Subsequently, the Verruckt is closed pending a full investigation.
The 2014 opening of Verruckt was delayed a few times, though the operators did not explain why.
Prosapio said it was unclear how the accident occurred, and the ride was inspected for weeks before the water park opened for the summer.
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File photo of Schlitterbahn’s Verruckt speed slide/water coaster.
