Boy dies on water slide in Kansas
The 10-year-old son of a Kansas state lawmaker dies on a 168-foottall water slide at the Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City, Kan., family and officials say.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The 10-year-old son of a Kansas state lawmaker died Sunday on a water slide that is billed as the world’s largest.
Authorities did not identify the boy who died at Schlitterbahn Waterpark, but state Rep. Scott Schwab. R-Olathe, and his wife released a statement saying it was their son Caleb Thomas Schwab.
Kansas City, Kan., police spokesman Cameron Morgan confirmed the boy died at the waterpark, which is 15 miles west of downtown Kansas City, Mo.
Schlitterbahn spokeswoman Winter Prosapio said the child died on one of the park’s main attractions, Verruckt, a 168-foottall water slide that has 264 stairs leading to the top.
Verruckt, which means “insane” in German, was certified as the world’s tallest water slide by Guinness World Records. Verruckt riders go down the slide in rafts and have to be at last 54 inches tall, according to the park’s website.
Witnesses told KSHBTV they saw the boy fly into the air after the first steep drop, hitting netting. Others said that the harness device wasn’t functioning properly. The park did not confirm those details, saying an investigation is still underway.
The slide’s 2014 opening was delayed a few times, though the operators did not provide reasons for the delays. Two media sneak preview days in 2014 were canceled because of problems with a conveyor system that hauls 100-pound rafts to the top of the slide.
In a USA Today article linked to the news release announcing a 2014 delay, Schlitterbahn co-owner Jeff Henry said he and designer John Schooley had based their calculations when designing the slide on roller coasters, but that didn’t translate well to a water slide like Verruckt.
In early tests, rafts carrying sandbags flew off the slide, prompting engineers to tear down half of the ride and reconfigure some angles at a cost of $1 million.