The raft that was carrying 10-year-old Caleb Schwab on the Verrückt waterslide ride at Schlitterbahn Water Park in Kansas City, Kansas, on Sunday, August 7, wasn’t 15 pounds underweight, contrary to a recent report. According to the Kansas City public information officer, the combined weight of 385 pounds reported by other outlets is wrong. That number is based on the police report, which simply took the victims’ weights from their driver’s licenses.
According to some reports, the raft weighed 385 pounds, which is 15 pounds short of the 400-pound minimum. However, the PIO tells Us Weekly that the raft actually met the required weight.
Schwab, who was decapitated during the ride, weighed 73 pounds. The two women riding with Schwab weighed a combined 472 pounds. The total weight was therefore 545 pounds, which is just under the maximum weight allowed.
The ride requires at least two or three people in the raft and a combined weight between 400 and 550 pounds. Each rider must be at least 54 inches tall.
As previously reported, Schwab sustained a “fatal neck injury” while riding Verrückt, the world’s tallest waterslide. According to reports, he was found dead at the bottom of the attraction in the pool. The two women riding with Schwab suffered minor injuries.
According to the park’s website, the slide was designed to have riders be dropped “down a jaw-dropping 168-foot, 7-inch structure, only to be blasted back up a second massive hill and then sent down yet another gut-wrenching 50-foot drop for the ultimate in waterslide thrills.”
The attraction has since been shut down. A funeral was held for Schwab on Friday, August 12.
