KS - Caleb Schwab, 10, dies on 17-story Schlitterbahn waterpark slide, Aug 2016

[Cubby]

If I had to guess, based on the little info we have and the (possible) blood in that video, I'd say that he flew out of the raft on that bump and then the raft kept going and he landed on the slide. So basically the mesh kept him from flying off the slide completely but it did little else for him if he was ejected from the raft.

All speculation, of course.

I am truly horrified by the whole thing. People assume rides are mostly safe in parks. And with no age restriction, I'm sure these parents thought the same. It's so sad. IF the ride ever reopens, I bet the age requirement will be 16 or maybe even 18.

I doubt this ride will ever reopen. Who would want to insure it?

 

[AmyPond]

I have said from the start that someone was going to die on that thing. It was ridiculous that they screwed up the engineering so bad at the beginning that the test dummy sandbags were flying out into the parking lot. They then spent a million more dollars to modify it, including putting the safety netting up...the safety netting which did apparently stop the raft from flying off, but still caused a fatality.

They're calling it a "neck injury" right now. Hmm, wonder what kind of "neck injury" causes that much visible blood in the water at the bottom of the slide? I'm thinking a "neck injury" in which the head becomes detached from the neck, whether partially or wholly.

People are arguing "it's been open for 2 years and this is the first injury"...well, that's true, but it's still not a safe ride. There are so many other things Schlitterbahn could have spent money on to draw visitors to the park, things that many more people would be able to use rather than a slide with specific rider guidelines.

It wouldn't necessarily be decapitation that causes that much blood. If a major artery was cut or something...maybe from something sharp on the netting. Then that type of injury would also produce a lot of blood, I think. (I am not a medical professional though so maybe not.)

 

[Tssiemer]

Head wounds bleed a lot. But I don't think that much. Also, wouldn't the water wash it off the slide?


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[KaaBoom]

I doubt this ride will ever reopen. Who would want to insure it?

The same insurance company that insures it now. The insurance company doesn’t care about bad publicity. They have already inspected it , and determined that it is a worthwhile risk. Plus with the cap of $300,000 of damages, that's nothing. A lot of personal automobile insurance policies have higher limits then that.

 

[Wyle_E_Coyote]

I don't think it was the straps unless all 3 people had strap problems. On NG, yes I know, it was said that of the 2 women with him... 1 has a broken jaw and the other a facial fracture and had to get stitches in her eye.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/07/us/kansas-schlitterbahn-water-park-child-death/

Some park guests say the slide's harness wasn't working properly earlier in the day.
"A lady in front of me said that multiple times she rode the ride today, the Verruckt, and that the front harness did not work any of the times that she rode it," park guest Jessica Lundquist told KSHB.

http://heavy.com/news/2016/08/caleb...ident-death-dies-parents-father-photos-video/

[Warning, this article is a difficult read]

Others told the news station that the harness device wasn’t functioning properly.

I'm trying to find another thing I read regarding duct tape repairs to straps... I'll keep looking, for now just rumor.

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[MzOpinion8d]

I think it will come down to him being so light, and riding in the front with straps that were too loose or came undone.

Seems likely, and I am wondering if the 2 women he was paired with along with him didn't meet the minimum 400 lb requirement.

I feel so sorry for those women as well as the Schwab family. This should have never happened.

 

[AmyPond]

then why bother riding the thing?

i don't mean to sound rude but there are risks involved with basically anything we do in life, walking across the street, driving a car, riding on a bus, flying on an airplane, this is no different.....nothing is fool proof.....if you don't want to take the risk, don't ride on the god dang ride, its simple, a roller coaster could fly off the track just as easily, if you don't want to take the risk, don't do it, its your own choice

Obviously everything in life has some risk involved. But this slide has only been open since 2014. I don't know the exact day but I believe it opened mid-Summer. Which means it was only open for a couple months in 2014. Then a few months in 2015. And a few months in 2016. So overall, less than 1 year in operation, basically. 1 death on a likely low-capacity ride in roughly 1 year? Those are some really horrible odds. Maybe not as bad as getting into a car. But it's pretty scary, nonetheless. If you compared it to other rides at theme parks, even rides that have had deaths, it's still really bad. Take The Matterhorn at Disneyland, for example. There have been 2 deaths on that ride. But it has been open all year long (minus refurbishments) and has been for almost 60 years.

Should parents have let a 10 year old on this slide? I don't know. I am not going to judge them on that. But would a 10 year old TRULY understand the risks involved? No. I don't think most adults really think that they are going do die a horrific death on a ride at an amusement park. Maybe they would if they watched that Travel Channel show though. I know that I wouldn't ride this thing after seeing it. In my opinion, it shouldn't even exist. I don't see why we need to keep making outrageous "record breaking" rides. It's ridiculous and if stuff like this keep getting built, we will sadly be seeing more and more stories like this.

 

[perfectingpink]

The headline is deceiving, this family's raft went airborne, not Caleb's.

Hutch family: Verruckt malfunctioned and "the raft went airborne"

http://www.kwch.com/content/news/Hutch-family-says-Verruckt-malfunctioned--389545142.html

 

[wfgodot]

Google "rides which have reopened after deaths" -- most do.

 

[Everyday Grace]

The same insurance company that insures it now. The insurance company doesn’t care about bad publicity. They have already inspected it , and determined that it is a worthwhile risk. Plus with the cap of $300,000 of damages, that's nothing. A lot of personal automobile insurance policies have higher limits then that.

I believe that cap would not apply to any potential punitive damages. Punitive damages in Kansas are capped, but can be considerably higher than $300,000.

At any rate, the family of the dead child has reportedly retained counsel to represent their interests.

The Schwabs have hired Michael Rader and Edward Robertson Jr. from the Leawood law firm Bartimus Frickleton Robertson. The firm said neither the family nor its lawyers would make public statements about the incident until an investigation was concluded.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article94371692.html#storylink=cpy

 

[MzOpinion8d]

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/07/us/kansas-schlitterbahn-water-park-child-death/

Some park guests say the slide's harness wasn't working properly earlier in the day.
"A lady in front of me said that multiple times she rode the ride today, the Verruckt, and that the front harness did not work any of the times that she rode it," park guest Jessica Lundquist told KSHB.

http://heavy.com/news/2016/08/caleb...ident-death-dies-parents-father-photos-video/

[Warning, this article is a difficult read]

Others told the news station that the harness device wasn’t functioning properly.

I'm trying to find another thing I read regarding duct tape repairs to straps... I'll keep looking, for now just rumor.

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I think the duct tape was on the boats, covering areas they'd repaired. I haven't seen it mentioned as being used on the straps in any way.

 

[Wyle_E_Coyote]

I think the duct tape was on the boats, covering areas they'd repaired. I haven't seen it mentioned as being used on the straps in any way.

I may be mistaken, then. Still looking.

Meanwhile, many many interesting comments here.

http://m.kmbc.com/news/person-dies-at-schlitterbahn/41091622



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[al66pine]

I doubt this ride will ever reopen. Who would want to insure it?

Agreeing w Kaa-Boom (bit of a happy surprise), that water park will still be able to buy liability ins for park including this ride. Are terms & premiums of current liability ins set annually for this coverage? Seems likely. Maybe a diff ins carrier next time.

Not a quantum leap to predict increased premiums & deductibles next time park negotiates ins coverage. Maybe before providing coverage, ins carrier will require further testing & reports by engineering firm (or other?) and/or additional safety-centric retrofitting? JM2cts.

Admission/tix prices next summer?

 

[Everyday Grace]

Also from the KC Star article as well as much more:

At one point, the ride did not have netting covering the flume. The netting is attached above the flume with a series of hard semicircular supports.

Mike Taylor, a spokesman for the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kan., said it insisted on adding the netting to the top of Verrückt before the ride made its debut in 2014.

“We raised that issue,” Taylor said Monday.

The Unified Government’s Development Review Committee examined plans for Verrückt before the attraction opened. That committee includes representatives from the the Kansas City, Kan., Fire Department, the Board of Public Utilities, the city’s building inspection and engineering departments, and the Public Health Department. The review process did not evaluate the how the ride worked or was supposed to operate, nor is there any state or local law that compels the city to carry out such an inspection.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article94371692.html#storylink=cpy

 

[KaaBoom]

Google "rides which have reopened after deaths" -- most do.

Yep, it will reopen by next year. In America corporate profits are the only thing that matters. Theme Parks don’t invest millions of dollars in a ride, only to shut it down because it is not safe. They have known that this thing was a death trap since they built it. Thats why they had to redesign it, just to make it this safe.

 

[Wyle_E_Coyote]

Found it!

http://www.outsideonline.com/1925351/i-survived-worlds-tallest-water-slide

But I wasn’t concerned—until I noticed certain less-than-state-of-the-art aspects of the ride. The stairs seemed too rickety for being so new. An air compressor at the top was rusty. The rafts were inflated inconsistently. Some of the Velcro straps that secure riders had been repaired with duct tape.


ETA. Actually, I saw it somewhere else originally, I remember someone commented that they would have passed when they saw the duct tape.

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[Inthedetails]

The headline is deceiving, this family's raft went airborne, not Caleb's.

Hutch family: Verruckt malfunctioned and "the raft went airborne"

http://www.kwch.com/content/news/Hutch-family-says-Verruckt-malfunctioned--389545142.html

Wow - and they had an 8yo in the raft with them.

I was thinking the rules for the ride were bent for Caleb, being a son of an elected official on Elected Official Day at the park, but apparently they let even younger kids than Caleb on the ride.

I think these cases of the raft lifting is because of the weight not being heavy enough or the kids themselves just not big enough for the harnesses.

 

[al66pine]

• "How exactly did Caleb die? Pending an investigation, Schlitterbahn has released no information about the death, including at what point Caleb was injured — whether it was at the top of the ride, along its descending path, or somewhere along the ride’s second and much lower rise and fall. Investigators on Sunday removed a section of the netting attached to the final descending portion of the ride just before the ride ends in a pool.▪ Was he ejected from the raft, did he come loose from the raft or was he injured while still inside the craft? Police said responders found Caleb in the pool at the end of the ride, but no one knows how his body got there.
• Did the ride somehow fail or malfunction?
• Did the raft containing Caleb meet the required weight and/or height requirement? According to Schlitterbahn’s website, the ride holds two or three riders per raft with a required combined weight of at least 400 pounds. Riders have to be at least 54 inches tall.
• Was Caleb properly secured into the raft? Or did he somehow come loose or somehow unfasten his restraint? The rafts use a Velcro lap belt and a single shoulder restraint. The belts are made of heavy fabric, secured with Velcro."

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article94371692.html#storylink=cpy Aug 8.​

 

[perfectingpink]

Fatal water slide accident questions need for stricter inspection laws in KS

http://www.kwch.com/content/news/Fa...stricter-inspection-laws-in-KS-389555322.html

 

[gregjrichards]

I may be mistaken, then. Still looking.

Meanwhile, many many interesting comments here.

http://m.kmbc.com/news/person-dies-at-schlitterbahn/41091622



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The comment about the designer claiming this slide is a prototype for an even bigger one is very concerning hopefully that idea is canned.