The state has asked for reports of safety inspections completed at the Schlitterbahn water park in Kansas City, Kan., where a 10-year-old boy died Sunday. Caleb was one of three passengers riding in a raft when the accident occurred. One of the women suffered a broken jaw, and the other a broken bone in her face and had to have stitches in her eye, according to WDAF. Riders must be at least 4-feet-6 inches tall, and those in each raft must total between 400 and 550 pounds, according to the park website. State law leaves it to the Kansas Department of Labor to adopt rules and regulations relating to certification and inspection of rides, adding that a permanent amusement ride must be scrutinized at least once a year by “a qualified inspector” licensed by the National Association of Amusement Ride Safety Officials. Schlitterbahn said in a statement on its website that the park is scheduled to reopen on August 10 but the Verruckt will remain closed.
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The portion of the park will reopen Wednesday, but the 168-foot Verruckt will remain closed. Caleb is the second son of Michele and Scott Schwab, a Kansas representative.
Officers said they had “no idea” how the accident unfolded.
The water slide takes riders almost 170 feet off the ground at its highest point.
Whatever the investigators discover, the news will come too late for Caleb Schwab; a kid who just wanted to try out a big, cool water slide.
Caleb Thomas Schwab, 10, was killed on August 7 while riding a waterslide at the Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City, Kansas.
The Kansas City Mudcats baseball team of which Caleb was a member also released a statement on the boy’s untimely death.
The two other riders in Caleb’s raft, both women not related to Caleb, suffered minor injuries, police said.
“Caleb was an incredible young man”, the family’s pastor, Clint Sprague, told a news conference. He said investigators didn’t believe anything criminal happened, so it would be a “civil matter”. An excerpt of a first person account of riding the Verruckt water slide for the first time published by the Associated Press gave an idea of how uniquely terrifying the water slide truly could be. Safety issues delayed the 2014 opening of the Verrückt waterslide four times.
The incident will likely lead to a discussion in the state legislature about how water parks are regulated, she said.
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Verrückt is now closed as the incident is still under investigation.
