Caleb Thomas Schwab, the 10-year-old boy who was fatally injured after riding the world’s tallest water slide in Kansas City, Kansas, died of a neck injury, police have said.
Caleb died on Sunday at the Schlitterbahn waterpark on the Verrückt water slide, which “sends riders plunging down 17 stories at up to 50 miles an hour”.
He was riding on a raft with two women, who suffered minor injuries to their faces, a police statement said.
Park officials said in a statement that Schlitterbahn Kansas City would remain closed at least until Wednesday, while the slide would be shut down during the course of the investigation.
The park’s website says all users of the ride must be at least 54in (1.37 metres) tall and the combined weight of people in the raft must be between 400 and 550 pounds (181-249kg). Police and a park spokeswoman declined to give details about whether the child met the ride’s height requirement of 54 inches (1.37 meters) or whether the three riders and the raft met the weight requirement.
Caleb’s father, Kansas State Representative Scott Schwab, said the family was devastated.
Under Kansas law, the state Department of Labor has jurisdiction over amusement parks, which must inspect their rides every 12 months with state officials authorised to conduct random inspections.
The park postponed the 2014 opening of the slide three times to ensure safety.
and the relevance to people in the UK?