10-year-old Caleb Schwab was killed while riding the Verrückt water slide in the Schlitterbahn water park in Kansas City.
He got decapitated on the water slide
The Verrückt water slide, which means "crazy" in German, is 168 feet tall and has also been named as the world's tallest water slide.
Caleb had been on the ride with two other women, who suffered minor facial injuries. Caleb on the other hand, got decapitated on the water slide. Authorities initially said that he suffered a broken neck, but sources close to the family said that it wasn't the case as Caleb was decapitated.
The Schlitterban Waterparks and Resorts issued the following statement regarding the incident:
“All of us at Schlitterbahn have been heartbroken over the tragedy that occurred on Verrückt. In our 50 years of providing an environment for families and friends to gather, we’ve never experienced this kind of devastating event. The safety of our staff and our guests is our top priority. We are parents and grandparents ourselves and many of us have ridden Verrückt with our own children and grandchildren over the years it operated.”
The slide will be removed from the water park
The water park also adds, “Once the investigation is concluded and we are given permission by the court, Verrückt will be decommissioned – closed permanently and the slide removed from the tower. In our opinion, it is the only proper course of action following this tragedy.”
The water slide had been open since 2014 after a number of delays since various safety tests have shown that the rafts on the water slide could fly off. Additional safety precautions have been added since then, such as velcro seat belts and a net to prevent the rafts from flying off.
Sadly, these precautions were not enough to prevent Caleb's untimely death.
Go to the next page to learn more about water park safety.
Keeping you and your family safe in water parks
While water parks are getting safer through the years, it's still up to us to be cautious and follow basic safety tips so that we can keep ourselves and our families safe while we have fun.
Here are some useful safety tips:
- Children should always wear a life vest. Life vests aren't optional for children, always make sure that your kids wear life vests for their safety. You can also opt to wear a life vest if you're not confident about your swimming ability.
- Make sure to read the signs and follow all the park's rules. Never disregard the park's safety rules since they created the rules for a reason. Make sure to read the safety regulations on the slides and follow them to the letter.
- Dress appropriately. Dress appropriately for swimming; water parks usually provide guidelines on what types of clothing you and your family should wear.
- Apply sunscreen on you and your family. Sunscreen is very important, even if you don't think that you would be out in the sun for a long time. Make sure to reapply throughout the day as the water can wash the sunscreen off.
- Always know where the lifeguards are. Even if you and your family know how to swim, it's still important to make a mental note of where the lifeguards are. You never know when an emergency can happen, so it's best to be cautious.
- Know where your kids are. Kids love playing in the water. And sometimes, kids can have a habit of straying too far. That's why you need to set rules on how far your kid can go in the water, and you also need to keep an eye on them at all times so you know that they're safe.
Sources: people.com, buzzfeed.com
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