[kellyhound]

velcro ffs. i smell a giant lawsuit coming up.
poor family

[Lion-hearted Girl]

Jesus. This is a very frightening story. Makes me not want to go on rides for a while

[vegitay2k]

Dang. Poor kid. Also really sad for the people the people that witnessed a kid get decapitated. I'd have nightmares for weeks.

[BigFoot]

Not sure if anyone else has mentioned, but there were two others in the raft with him. Two women (unrelated), one broke her jaw, the other had to have stitches on her face. Unknown at this time if his body/head caused their injuries, or if all three were tossed into the safety netting.

I remember when they were building the slide, they originally weren't going to have a net around the slide, but they kept having weight issues with the rafts, and the rafts kept blowing out of the slide with dummies in it that they ended up constructing the netted enclosure to keep people inside--looks like in this case it killed someone and was hastily put up.

[trollbridge]

It is easy to see how the fence probably acted like a cheese grater. Not sure how anyone would think that kind of metal wire "fence" is a good idea. Anyone bouncing into that would be badly injured, without a doubt. So this kid's shoulder strap probably came undone on the first drop and being a tiny slip of a kid he flies out of the lap portion as they crest the hill and go zero G. No way he could hold on. The fence catches his chin, and his head gets easily ripped off by the force of the raft and other two passengers pushing his body down the final hill. As his body gets pulled out of the raft in that moment before head and torso come apart, his flailing torso breaks the jaw and face bone of the two riders behind him. Looking at the setup and watching FPV of the "slide" in question, I'm surprised it hasn't happened before.

I get why they didn't use large mechanical shoulder harnesses, however a better choice would have been a 5 point nylon harness like a child safety seat uses. Still easy enough to release should a raft tip upside down, and way more secure than Velcro over the lap and shoulder.

It is obvious that the boy was decapitated, if you look closely at the pictures. You can see two yellow pieces of sheet or canvas over the body parts, with red stains seeping through each of the two. Even with the dark bottom of the yellow slide, you can get a good idea of the blood dumped into the water.

Reminds me of that race car driver who got launched into the catch fence not too long ago...that fence shredded his head off too. I think it is completely insensitive to reopen this slide at all, they should tear it down. I don't think the park needs to close for good, but if I owned the place the summer would be over. It would be next season before customers were invited back, and that slide would be completely gone.

I hope this family can cope with this whole mess. I'm sure it will be a long time before this isn't all they see when they close their eyes. :(

[candymosh]

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/...nesday-n626646

The Kansas water park where 10-year-old Caleb Schwab died on the world's tallest waterslide will reopen Wednesday, but the waterslide itself will remain closed for the rest of the 2016 season, the park said Tuesday.

Caleb Schwab died Sunday afternoon on the Verrückt ride at Schlitterbahn Water Park in Kansas City. He was the son of state Rep. Scott Schwab of Olathe, and the family was at the park for Elected Officials Day.

Winter Prosapio, a spokeswoman for Schlitterbahn Waterparks and Resorts, said "a limited portion" of the park will reopen for guests at noon (1 p.m. ET) Wednesday. She said the company would have no further comment and wouldn't grant any interviews.

An autopsy showed that Caleb, who was in a carriage with two women, died of an unspecified neck injury at the end of the ride in the water pool, Kansas City police said. Police said they were investigating the case as an accident.

The two other riders were publicly identified only as women from Hays, Kan., who weren't related to the Schwabs. They were treated for face injuries.

The Hays Daily News reported Tuesday that both women are back home in Hays awaiting medical appointments.

"We feel really bad for his family," the husband of one of the women said of the Schwabs, according to the Daily News, which said the man asked that his family remain anonymous.

The Verrückt — a German word for "insane" or "crazy" — drops riders almost 169 feet at 65 mph. Its marketing materials include the slogan "R U Insane?" and it's listed by Guinness World Records as the world's tallest waterslide.

The state Labor Department, which has oversight of amusement park rides in Kansas, said Tuesday that it has requested documentation from Schlitterbahn to ensure that all safety requirements were followed.

It said that under state law, "all occurrences of serious injury resulting from the operation of an amusement ride require that the ride be immediately discontinued by the park pending further inspection."

Prosapio said the Verrückt ride wouldn't reopen this season, which ends Sept. 5.

NBC News reported Monday that Kansas is among several states that don't require permanent amusement park rides to be inspected by a state inspector. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission hasn't had the power to oversee amusement parks for 35 years, after Congress stripped its authority in 1981 as part of a package of deregulatory budget cuts.

The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, the largest trade association for permanent amusement park rides, said in a statement Tuesday that it opposes any effort to enact federal oversight.

"Developing a federal program would require the government to invest millions of taxpayer dollars to staff a department of qualified inspectors and investigators," the organization said. "We have no reason to believe a federal program would improve on the already outstanding safety record of the industry."

Meanwhile, residents of Olathe were mourning the loss of their state representative's son.

"Every teacher said, 'What a joy to have him. I hope I have him again,'" said Rick Lukianuk, chief administrator of Heritage Christian Academy, where Caleb would have been entering fifth grade.

"But we have a great big thank-you to God for allowing him to be here," Lukianuk told NBC station KSHB of Kansas City, Mo. "The school is a better place, we're a better place, because Caleb was here."

Clint Sprague, lead pastor of LifeMission Church, where the Schwabs are members, said Caleb's death was "absolutely devastating."

"He's going to be missed for his energy, for his life, for his smile, for the way he lit up a room," Sprague said.


No wonder the ride wasn't safe...someone saved a buck somewhere instead of spending it to fix equipment.

[1594]

Fucking awful. And fucking Velcro?

[Desensitisation]

Another for fucking velcro on a ride travelling at over 100kph. Coupled with the netting system, this was a disaster that was inevitable...

[mmeroyale]

What is also baffling is that netting and velcro REEK of bad ideas and unsafety but nobody stopped this and the other kids. Like VELCRO. COMEFUCKINGON

[Desensitisation]

Originally Posted by mmeroyale ↗

What is also baffling is that netting and velcro REEK of bad ideas and unsafety but nobody stopped this and the other kids. Like VELCRO. COMEFUCKINGON

Apparently, a girl of 14 who was on the ride a half hour before said her velcro came undone as well. That should have been reported immediately, and the ride shut down until it was tested. But, no... gotta make that money.