Boy, 10, dies in horror waterslide accident
A 10- year-old boy has tragically plunged to his death on what has been billed the ‘world’s tallest waterslide’.
Caleb Schwab was enjoying a carefree summer day at Schlitterbahn water park in Kansas when he died riding The Verruckt, which is more than 51 meters tall and typically sees two to three people strapped to a raft before descending 17 storeys and then propelled back up five storeys by rushing water.
‘We held each other and had a little emotional meltdown once we moved away from the immediate area,’ says fellow park-goer Kelsey Friedrichsen, 27. ‘It was just difficult to process.’
While police have confirmed Caleb died of a fatal ‘neck injury’, Schlitterbahn have yet to provide any further details as to how to accident occurred.
‘It looked like he must have somehow been ejected from his seat, bounced around between the netting and the slide and just slid down,’ says Kesley. ‘He would have fallen down without the raft. It's kind of like a tube.’
Expressing their grief in a statement, Caleb’s family, says they are ‘comforted knowing he believed in his Saviour, Jesus, and they are forever together now’.
‘Since the day he was born, he brought abundant joy to our family and all those who he came into contact with,’ read the statement.