KANSAS CITY, Mo.—At least two people who rode in the last year on the same Kansas waterslide where a 10-year-old boy was killed say nylon shoulder straps came loose during the raft ride featuring a 17-story drop.
It’s unclear whether the straps on “Verruckt” — German for “insane” — played any role in Sunday’s death of Caleb Schwab, a Kansas lawmaker’s son. Police and Schlitterbahn Waterpark have yet to explain how Calebsustained a fatal neck injury on the 168-foot-tall ride, which the park said Tuesday would be closed for the remainder of the season.
On the 2-year-old waterslide certified by Guinness World Records as the world’s tallest, riders sit in multi-person rafts that begin with the steep drop, followed by a surge up a second hill before a 50-foot descent to a finishing pool. Along the way, riders clutch ropes along the inside of the raft.
Riders are harnessed in with two nylon seatbelt-like straps — one that crosses the rider’s lap, the other stretching diagonally like a car shoulder seatbelt. Each strap is held in place by long Velcro-style straps, not by buckles.
