Not a whole lot of info yet, but the park is reportedly closed for the day now.

 

http://www.kctv5.com/story/32704011/person-dies-at-schlitterbahn-water-park

According to KCTV reporter Nathan Vickers it has been confirmed it was a child that died on Verrukt:

 

https://twitter.com/nathanvickers/status/762396037520646144

 

Still awaiting confirmation of further information.

 

My thoughts and prayers are certainly with the family and all others affected.

I wonder if was on Veructt (sp?). I always wanted to try that thing but knew I was in no shape to climb 17 stories. At least not in a single day.

Edit: oh dear, not likely a heart attack then. Sad.

KCTV has posted the press briefing on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/KCTV5/posts/10154238969790470

A waterslide with a harness? How big is this slide?

Edit: I see the answer above me.

People are saying he was decapitated,i feel terrible for the family.how could this happen on a waterslide?.

I followed the progress when they were building it. They had to reprofile it because the raft could go airborne and flip on the second hill. IIRC it was modified with jets to push the raft over the hill. Possibly flipped?.

The design and construction was in-house.

...horrible beyond words.

 

Today was Elected Official Day at the park. The victim was the son of a Kansas state legislator. http://kcur.org/post/young-boy-dies-verr-ckt-worlds-tallest-water-slide-kck

People are saying he was decapitated,i feel terrible for the family.how could this happen on a waterslide?.

Please post a link when saying something like this... But I got your back

http://m.breaking911.com/just-person-dies-kansas-water-park/

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is so sad. I hate to hear about things like this. These parks are suppose to be about fun not tragedy.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/08/07/boy-dies-kansas-waterslide/88373128/

"safe dangerous"

Minimum age: 14.

This may sound bad but I feel bad for the designers, lifeguards, etc that likely feel responsible for the safety of the attraction.

^^They must have taken PR tips from Intamin. 

 

Dangerous-safe? Really?

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/08/07/boy-dies-kansas-waterslide/88373128/

"safe dangerous"

Minimum age: 14.

Oh yeah, that is why we never made the trip, my kids were to young. Still are.

I always felt this thing was a bit Action Park-ish, but still wanted to ride it. The don't believe the netting was originally planned but retrofitted after testing.

For all of you that really know the history of amusement rides. How often are rides scrapped after serious accidents like this?

What's worse is that the ride was designed and built in house, so all the liability is on Schlitterbahn. 

Thoughts go out to the family.  And those that witnessed the tragedy.  

 

So my immediate reaction is if there was a minimum required age, were they actively enforcing that requirement?  For example, the Fender Bender ride at Coney Island has a minimum requirement of 32" and 5 years old to ride.  What is to stop a parent from telling the operator that their kid is actually five when they are not that age yet, just to get them on the ride.  While a kiddy bumper car ride is no doubt more tame than a serious thrill ride like the slide in question, parents have been known to circumvent safety measures and/or lie in order to get their kids to ride rides before they are truly tall enough.  I am in no way saying that the parents in this situation did any of that.  

 

It will be interesting to see what caused the accident, and what, if any, modifications are made to the ride.

There is a 27 odd page thread back from 2013 that covers the construction over on TPR if anyone is interested in knowing more history on it. Not sure what the linking rules are here but the title is Re: Schlitterbahn Kansas - Slide O' Death 2.0 (I don't even know what to say about that, but there it is)

There was also a Extreme Waterparks or similar episode on the construction a few years ago. IIRC the tower was made out of 3 railroad tanker cars cut and welded together. They had also built a 1/3 (?? ) scale model of it first.

The big restriction on the ride when it opened was a 400-550 lb total weight requirement for the raft. Somewhere in that thread back then I think I made a comment to the effect that 3 petite teenage girls might not total enough weight to ride it.

EDIT: TPR just changed the title of the thread and removed the Slide O' Death 2.0 part.

And how do you monitor age? A tall 12 and a short 15 year old look almost the same....

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

^ I remember there was a rather involved sign up and appointment process when it opened. One would presume if you didn't have an ID parents had to vouch and sign a release.

That's really schlitty news. Hope the cause is found soon.

Not funny.

Here is a Good Morning America report on the delays in opening it. With shots of the rafts flying off the second hill.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=56gYUxlRBHs&feature=youtu.be

 

That's really schlitty news. Hope the cause is found soon.

Not funny.

 

 

That's really schlitty news. Hope the cause is found soon.

Not funny.

 

PyroKinesis I hope you get the help you need. A kid just died! The water is still red from his blood!

I've only seen footage of rather large men testing/ride this slide, The height/age requirements might've been good to have also taken into account the weight of the rider. (Edit: on further reading, I see weight was taken into account.) the idea of a combined weight still leaves the lightweight guy at odds, though.

I've gone higher than the sides of the slides at The Beach before, so I can imagine a loose raft with lightweight people can do some airtime.

My opinion of the velcro straps holding in isn't too good. Very lightweight, easily removable, and slip on the body, or worse, if the body slips, the harness can catch under the neck- I'm only taking into account my experience as a small person on this. I have had some failed restraints of this kind in the past.

I can see why the ride did have such restraints, due to the possibility of the raft flipping and the occupants being caught under water.

From today's print Washington Post:

a. "According to local TV station KSHB, however, "more than one water park guest" said the harnesses on the ride were not working Sunday."

b. "Originally, the slide required riders be at least 14-years old and 54-inches tall, but the age requirement was deemed unnecessary and eliminated, USAToday reported in 2014."

c. "It's nice to know that nobody's ever going to come out of the ride" Henry told the Star." "Henry reportedly chose Kansas because of its lax height restrictions."

There were reports of an injured woman that the park did not mention.

 

 

 

That's really schlitty news. Hope the cause is found soon.

Not funny.

 

 

I was going to let it go, but apparently it wasn't just an unfortunate lapse in judgment. A child has died; what is your problem? I really don't understand people like you.

Tragic news for sure.  I haven't found the forum here at KIC yet, but there was lengthy discussion on this ride and the dangers of having a water ride with a harness.

 

Found the old forum here  http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php/topic/29768-verruckt-the-worlds-tallest-water-slide-schlitterbahn-kansas-is-delayed-again/?hl=schlitterbahn

Well worth the read regarding the concerns of many here.

I watched a POV in one of the links posted above.  Can you imagine how the associate feels who was stationed at the end of the ride? 

I want to first say that my Heart goes out to the Family of this poor, innocent child who 's Life was lost, and also to the slide workers and everyone else who witnessed this tragedy.  I can't even begin to express how they all must be feeling, Im in tears right now just attempting to write this post (Yes, me, Mr. blunt "Love me or hate me" Sparky).

 

 I also have to take this time to get something off my chest about these types of "extreme" attractions.  You know, I really try to not be one of those "restrictions in innovation for reasons of over protection" types but, COME ON MAN!!!!  I don't know about the rest of you, but if Im attempting to design/build a ride or attraction and my rafts continually do their Steppenwolf Magic Carpet Ride imitation, I believe I would say to myself "Self, are you being intentionally STUPID or is your ego just tripping beyond the realm of intelligence?".  It took me 8 years to be able to strap myself into Top Thrill Dragster, even with my rational and science/engineering/logic based mind convincing me that I am countless times safer on it than in the vehicle that brought me to the park.  While I know that tragedies can happen at any time on any of these rides (I.e. Smiler incident and the cable snapping incident on Xcelerator some years back), there comes a time when it must be said "How much is enough?  How much is TOO much?" BEFORE going forth with a project simply to get a precious "est" record.  Especially in the case of a ride that has no way of securing the ride vehicle to the track.  Wildebeast/Mammoth "airtime" (all 3 inches of it) is one thing, but putting a Kingda Ka style airtime hill on a raft ride is another, much more ridiculous thing altogether.

 

Im sorry, and I may be off base or out of line here, but a 10 YEAR OLD just died on something that was supposed to be nothing but fun.  

I watched a POV in one of the links posted above.  Can you imagine how the associate feels who was stationed at the end of the ride?

No I can't. If the reports of the harnesses failing that day are to be believed, how about the associates that strapped them in and cleared the ride for launch? I don't know if I could continue doing the job after something like this.

A reminder of the awesome responsibility they have in our safety. This reminder will hopefully temper my impatience with slow intervals.