Boy, 12, dies on Verrückt slide at Schlitterbahn water park in Kansas City

[TexasTowelie]

A 12-year-old boy died Sunday afternoon on the tallest water slide in the world, the Verrückt, at the Schlitterbahn Water Park in Kansas City, Kan.

A park spokeswoman confirmed the death at a news conference Sunday afternoon. Schlitterbahn shut down after the accident and will remain closed Monday. The slide will be closed pending a full investigation.

“We are saddened to share that a young boy died on Verrückt this afternoon,” said Winter Prosapio, corporate director of communications for Schlitterbahn. “Given that safety is our first priority we have closed our Kansas City park and have closed the ride pending a full investigation. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family during this difficult time.”

Prosapio could not say whether the boy fell from the 17-story ride and she could not even say what time Sunday afternoon the incident occurred.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article94254507.html

[uppityperson]

1. This is so sad.

[milestogo]

2. He was the son of a Kansas state legislator

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/boy-12-killed-riding-world-tallest-water-slide-kansas-article-1.2742038

Video from rider:

[xmas74]

3. And he was only ten.

It was Legislature Day at the park. A busy day, lots of families. Witness reports on scene claim he had too much air and hit a bar, possibly causing decapitation. And there have been posts with camera phone pictures possibly from the scene showing blood.

[milestogo]

4. I can't imagine sending a 10 year old down that slide.

Or a 12 year old for that matter.

[xmas74]

5. I've never done it

But I know others who have. A classmate from hs was there last week with her 12 year old. He begged and she almost allowed until she saw it up close. She said she got sick looking at it and told him that he couldn't ride it while she was alive.

My kid and I have never been. We go to Oceans of Fun instead.

[citood]

6. I remember seeing the news footage of test rafts flying off the slide

And I knew that they switched out from 2 person to.3 person rafts to make them heavier. But today I learned that most of the ride is now covered with a safety net...a sort of tunnel made out of a net. Sounds like a good idea...except hitting that net at 60 mph is probably deadly. Rumors are flying on Reddit that the boy somehow hit the net with his head

[JI7]

9. how fucking horrible , poor kid . i hate reading these things

[williesgirl]

7. There are no words.

[SheilaT]

8. In reading the story, I'm struck by this:

Riders on the Verrückt are supposed to be at least 54 inches tall. Riders sit in a three-person raft and are secured with straps across the waist and shoulders, like a seat belt. The combined weight of riders per raft must be between 400 and 550 pounds. Riders are weighed at the bottom of the tower and again at the top.

Looking at the photo of the ten year old who died, he couldn't have weighed more than 70 pounds. Who were the 175 pound adults who were with him? It seems as if the basic requirements of the ride weren't followed.

[Ilsa]

10. What a horrible tragedy.

I hope Kansas will look at better regulation of entertainment parks. There is no reason to take chances like this.

[Locrian]

11. looking at some of the pics of that ride

I know we need to wait for the facts - but that thing looks majorly f-ed up. The constraints and dynamics of a raft / water are dramatically different from a roller coaster. No way in hell I would let anyone ride that thing.

The net thing looks like a tacked on safety measure - where they forgot about forward motion if someone would hit the net or (worse) the net supports.

[TexasTowelie]

16. It is obviously too steep of a drop from the tower itself.

If the slope was changed at the tower then it would have provided a much safer ride while still providing an exciting experience. I agree that the net looks like an afterthought in the design.

[GoCubsGo]

12. Well, it was "Legislature Day" at the park.

They all got to see first-hand effects of insufficient/non-existent regulations. Sadly, some innocent child was the one who had to pay for their "regulations hurt business" mentality with his life. He was one of their own kids, so maybe they'll do something about it. Maybe.

[ReformedGOPer]

15. This was

the first thing I thought of when I heard about it.

[KittyWampus]

13. lack of safety regulations just adds another layer of 'thrill'...

sorry the young person died.

As I have posted before regarding guns and cars, manufacturers are REQUIRED to engineer safety into their products.

This failed miserably.

[Calculating]

14. From what I've read

The child was decapitated by the bars holding the safety net in place. He came lose from the Velcro straps and flew up into the bars.

[uppityperson]

17. Kansas waterslide death: Two women also injured in accident that killed 10-year-old boy

Kansas waterslide death: Two women also injured in accident that killed 10-year-old boy

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/kansas-waterslide-death-caleb-schwab-two-women-injured-accident-killed-10-year-old-boy-a7179441.html

The women said the accident that killed Caleb Schwab happened so fast that they could not recall what had caused it
(clip)

According to local news station Fox 4, the 10-year-old was sharing a raft with two adult women from near Hays, Kansas, some 250 miles from the park. One of the women broke her jaw in the accident, while the other suffered a broken bone in her face and required stitches in one eye.

The husband of one of the women said the accident had been so fast that they could not recall precisely what happened. One of the women reportedly had her eyes closed at the time...

[sarisataka]

18. I watched a show last year

about the design and construction of this ride. It was considered very extreme and they had to make several design changes because the rafts would often become airborne.

The uphill of the hump has water jets to maintain or even accelerate the rafts at that point. In the final design they had minimum/maximum weight requirements to insure the rafts would not fly even after reducing the thrust of the water jets.

I recall the netting was the last item added in case a raft did become airborne. I do not recall if they considered any danger from the net itself.

Very tragic.