Heartbroken dad of boy, 10, who was decapitated on children’s water slide demands to know how the accident occurred
Caleb Schwab's family thanked the public for their support after the young boy's tragic death
THE family of a 10-year-old boy who was decapitated while on one of the world's biggest waterslide has spoken out, demanding answers for a tragedy they say should never be repeated.
Caleb Schwab's family thanked the public for their support but said they were desperate for answers over why their little boy died.
The 10-year-old, the son of Kansas lawmaker Scott Schwab, was on the 168ft-high Verruckt ride when he was killed earlier this month.
The family said: "While we try to step forward into the new normal life without Caleb in our presence, we find hope with the current investigation into the incident to provide answers and assurances that such a tragedy would not strike again."
In a statement issued by the family's attorney, Michael Rader, Scott Schwab said: "Words will never convey the appreciation Michele, the boys, and I have for all those who expressed their love and support the last week and a half.
"'Thank you' seems so inadequate to express our appreciation, but it is the only phrase we have. So, from the depths of our hearts, we thank you."
into the young boy's death.
Schwab and his wife have previously released a statement confirming it had been their son involved in the tragic accident while at the theme park with his family.
Asking for privacy to grieve, they said: “Since the day he was born, he brought abundant joy to our family and all those he came in contact with.”
The young boy was killed on August 7 while riding the 168ft-high Verruckt, which means “insane” in German. The ride has been certified as the world’s tallest water slide by Guinness World Records.
Riders go down the slide in multi-person rafts and have to be at last 54 inches tall, according to the park’s website.
The family's devastation comes after two teenagers described the horrific moment they saw a trail of blood following Caleb Schwab's body down the waterslide.
Melanie Gocke told : "I heard the noise, and I looked over immediately, and I saw his broken neck and him sliding down the slide leaving a blood trail."
Her friend Jess Sanford added: "I only saw Caleb slide down the last half of the slide, and then I saw the blood.
"His friend was screaming for help and I think that's when staff members and medics and stuff started running."
Their horrific account of the tragedy followed revelations that safety concerns around the ride had already been flagged.
The opening of the 17-storey freefall water ride was revealed to have been pushed back twice with footage of the ride being tested showing rafts flying from the huge ride.
When the ride first opened in 2014, co-owner and Verruckt creator Jess Henry told USA Today: "We had many issues on the engineering side. A lot of our math was based on rollercoasters at first, and that didn't translate to a water slide like this. No one had ever done anything like this."
The ride, which is taller than both the Statue of Liberty and Niagra Falls, left even its creator terrified.
He said: "I'm still recovering mentally. It's like jumping off the Empire State Building. It's the scariest thing I've done."
He said at the time that while the ride was dangerous, it was "safe dangerous".
The Verruckt ride, which means "insane" in German, was open at the Schlitterbahn water park in Kansas City, Kansas, when Caleb was killed.
Witness Kelsey Friedrichse told that she and her boyfriend were on their way up the huge water slide when they saw crowds gathering at the bottom of the 168-foot ride.
She said: "There was a woman being treated for some kind of injury on her face and head. That was when my boyfriend said, 'I think there is someone else'."
The 27-year-old said she was horrified to see the body of the 10-year-old being covered by first responders.
She said: "It looked like he must have somehow been ejected from his seat, bounced around between the netting and the slide and just slide down. He would have fallen down without the raft, it's kind of like a tube."
The park has since been shut down while an investigation into the boy's death continues.
Other traumatised witnesses said they saw Caleb's family crying as emergency services treated the other two women who were on the raft.
Other thrill-seekers have since shared their experiences on the ride, including Paul Oberhauser, who told local station KCTV that his shoulder restraint had "busted loose".
He said: "As soon as I hit the bottom of the first curve the shoulder strap just kind of busted loose."
He said he had told park staff, saying: "They kinda said, 'Oh no, really' or something 'yes, that's not good'. And so it sounded like, you know, they were going to do something about it."
The 168ft-high Verruckt, which means “insane” in German, was certified as the world’s tallest water slide by Guinness World Records.
Riders go down the slide in multi-person rafts and have to be at last 54 inches tall, according to the park’s website.
Kenneth Conrad told that his friend's shoulder strap had come "completely off" during a ride on the slide last year.
He said: "As we were going down, we went down the first one, and as we were approaching the second one, he was in the back and you could hear him say that his strap came off and when we hit, he was real tense, shaken, because his strap had come completely off and literally he was using all of his force to hold him onto the slide."
Kansas Senator David Haley has since demanded better regulation of amusement parks with it revealed the Verruckt ride had not been inspected by the state since it was opened.
Kansas Police Department has since released a statement, expressing their condolences to the Schwab family after the tragic loss of Caleb.
In the statement, police said: "Caleb Schwab was 1 of 3 passengers riding in a boat on the Verruckt Water Slide on August 7th, 2016. At approximately 1430 hours an off duty officer working at Schlitterbahn notified police dispatch that an incident had occurred on the Verruckt Water Slide, and assistance was needed.
"The Kansas City, Kansas Police and Fire Departments responded to the scene and located Caleb Schwab, 10 years old, dead from a fatal neck injury at the end of the ride, in the pool. The 2 other adult female riders in the boat, not related to the victim, sustained minor facial injuries, and were transported and treated at area hospitals."
Police said investigations into the incident were ongoing.
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