Police in Kansas City, Kansas, were helping Schlitterbahn park in their probe into the death on Sunday of Caleb Thomas Schwab on the Verrückt water slide, which is more than 168 feet (51.4 meters) tall and whose name means “insane” in German.
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“He’s going to be missed for his energy, for his life, for his smile, for the way he lit up a room”, Sprague said.
The Schlitterbahn spokesman stated no interviews will be granted to journalists.
A Kansas City water park said it will reopen Wednesday at noon, but the Verruckt water slide will be closed for the rest of the season, KMBC-TV reported.
Meanwhile, at least one wintess reportedly says the boy was actually decapitated. Josh also noticed that there were two women with the boy who were apparently not related to him but had minor injuries on their faces.
KDOL has requested documentation from Kansas Schlitterbahn Water Park to ensure all safety requirements have been followed.
An administrative assistant with the Wyandotte County, Kansas, coroner’s office says the post-mortem examination of Caleb Thomas Schwab began Monday morning.
Park officials said in a statement that Schlitterbahn Kansas City would remain closed at least until Wednesday, while the slide would be shut down during the course of the investigation.
A Kansas legislator says he wants to examine the state’s relatively light oversight of amusement park rides like the waterslide on which a 10-year-old boy was killed.
He said he had to grip handles by his legs to hold on and told park staff 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.
No figures are available for overall water park injuries, but the Red Cross cited U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates when it launched updated training efforts a year ago for lifeguards who work at water parks.
The commission oversees traveling amusement parks in the country-including pop-up carnivals-but it does not have jurisdiction over water parks in permanent locations. The commission declined to comment and did not provide updated public waterslide injury figures on Tuesday.
Safety reviews and regulatory compliances fall to various entities.
“They need to bridge that gap”, he said. “I don’t see it ever coming into fruition”.
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The Verruckt water slide requires riders to be strapped in with seatbelts and is designed more like a roller coaster, with netting surrounding the slide to prevent rafts from catapulting into the air. He was found dead in a pool at the bottom of the slide and police confirmed with People magazine that the boy was decapitated. His companions suffered non-life-threatening facial injuries.
