In the schlitterbahn water park in Kansas City, USA, there is the world's highest water slide - "Verruckt".
It not only gives tourists a 'crazy' experience, but also has a 'crazy' accident.
In 2016, a 10-year-old boy's leather raft stalled off the slide and suffered a tragedy of 'being different'. Recently, a number of people and institutions related to the water slide have been charged with second degree murder by the boy's family.
There have been several similar accidents in the past, but the information has been blocked and the equipment has never been repaired, the indictment said.
The prosecution also provided a video in which one of the defendants' designers said in the early years that he might also die in the process of playing.
In 2016, Kansas Republican Scott Schwab took his 10-year-old son, Caleb Schwab, to a water park, CNN reported.
The tragedy happened when the son left his father to experience the 'crazy' slide.
(observer's note: the original name of this water slide is Verruckt in German, which means' crazy '. )
Kaleb's raft suddenly stalled out of the slide and hit the wire mesh above. Kaleb's head was cut off on the spot, and the faces of two female tourists on the same raft were also injured to varying degrees.
In the past week, Scott has accused a series of secondary murders of related personnel and institutions, including the schlittered water park, Taylor & middot; Austin & middot; Myers, its former operation director, the construction company involved in the construction of the slide, and two designers, Jeffrey & middot; Henry and John & middot; Scully. Among them, Henry was arrested by the police on the 26th.
However, in 2017, the park reached a settlement agreement with the Schwab family, worth about $20 million, according to the report. The two ladies also received a certain amount of settlement.
According to the official website of schlitt like water park, in the "Crazy" slide project, a raft will start from a 51 meter high platform and slide vertically down to a place 9 meters above the ground at a speed of up to 100 kilometers per hour. Then, the raft will be hoisted to a 15 high slope, and after turning over the slope, it will arrive at the end.
Each raft can take two to three people, with a total weight of 400 to 500 pounds (about 360 to 450 pounds).
In May 2014, it was certified by Guinness World Records as the 'world's highest water slide'.
On the 27th, the water park official released a statement supporting Henry. Because Henry is one of the partners of paradise.
Jeffrey has participated in the design of water parks all over the world. Now, almost all water parks can see the shadow of his design concept. '
'what happened that day was a terrible tragedy. However, we know that Tyler, Jeffrey and John are all innocent, and our operations are safe - we have received millions of tourists over the past 40 years, as we can prove. '
"We believe that the court will finally prove their innocence, and the fact is an accident," the statement concluded.
Kaleb's family didn't think so. They also issued a statement on the same day expressing their full trust in Derek Schmidt, the Attorney General of Kansas, who was also involved in the investigation.
Moreover, they provide several strong evidences.
The first is a video of Henry's early interview. In the interview, he introduced the danger of the water slide.
Then, he 'let it slip'.
'when it slips, I may die myself. '
Now, the words he said are used as evidence of his murder.
In addition, the indictment mentions that Kleib's death appears to be an 'isolated and unforeseen event', but it is not. Some employees, who did not want to be named, came forward to reveal that there were many similar accidents in the past, but they were blocked by the water park. Since then, the equipment has not been repaired. Miles is said to be the culprit for 'delayed maintenance' and 'concealment of evidence'.
The indictment details the injuries of 13 tourists, including concussion, fractures and other symptoms. Four of them were children of the same age as Caleb.
'the accident happened in this water park, far more than Caleb. We are confident that Schmidt will take appropriate measures to protect the safety of the public, "kelleb's family said.
They have obtained permission from the court, according to the schlitt water park. No matter what, they will remove the slide after the investigation. The name 'the world's tallest water slide' will also change hands.
How to ensure safe operation of water slide?
The first impression of the public on the water park is often the popularity, brilliance, and surging passenger flow of a water park. In fact, what is more unforgettable is the casualties and mass casualties of tourists caused by its safety accidents. Safety is the lifeline of water park. A serious safety accident can destroy a water park project. Let's briefly analyze the safe operation of water slide:
The safety of water slide includes three factors: water flow, floating distance and tourists' posture. And the strength and angle of the slide may cause safety accidents.
Chongqing Caribbean has been running for eight years without safety accidents, which is related to their constant exploration and summary. Among them, they improved the floating distance of several slideways. For example, the first gentle style was later changed to Dragon Boat style. The length and depth of the sliding blanket have been changed according to the height and body appearance of Chongqing tourists, so as to ensure the minimum damage to tourists during the sliding process. At the same time, there is another project: hejiahuan big skateboard. At the beginning, we used the traditional 8-shaped double boots. Later, we found that the weight of the tourists before and after was different and there was a risk of overturning. Later, we used the boat shaped skateboard and so on. These are all found out in their operation process. Operational safety is not immutable. It should be changed according to your facilities and the physical characteristics of local tourists. Every time they inflate the float, they inflate it with a standard amount of air. Because of the different weight of tourists, the requirements for floating ring are different. These different characteristics will affect the grasp of safety. In addition, let's share, for example, the big horn is a very important and exciting amusement facility in every water park. It's also one of the most popular recreational facilities in the Caribbean. But one thing is that it has a great sliding force. During the process of playing, tourists often can't control their body posture. How to deal with this situation? Chongqing Caribbean wear a protective helmet for tourists. It is a rubber helmet, which can prevent tourists from colliding with skateboards and their knees in the process of sliding. In the safe operation of water slide, only through continuous improvement of such details can the safety of tourists be improved.
Jinghaiming of Suzhou paradise thinks that there are basically three factors determining the safety boundary of water slide. One is the main body of the equipment, the track of its operation, its water volume, and whether its design is scientific, which should be controlled in place by the equipment supplier of the water park. Including slide, this one is on the hardware. Second, the key to safety is whether we can operate. The first thing to do for tourists is to do a scene training. At the same time, the total weight should be controlled. And the even distribution of body weight, which is also key. Third, it should be said that it is related to the control of tourists' own posture. Some tourists will be out of control when they are stimulated to different degrees.
For hardware equipment, first of all, when we build a new one, we have done a lot of repeated tests with the manufacturers of entertainment equipment. The posture of testers, what is the best, the amount of water in the end is appropriate, and whether the speed is reasonable, which requires a lot of repeated tests and tests to be fixed. But remember, the new slide, when some equipment manufacturers come in for testing and debugging, is like this. After opening to tourists, due to the use of a large number of tourists, the friction of the slide, after a period of time to carry out secondary debugging. Therefore, the equipment manufacturer shall make secondary adjustment during operation to achieve the best value.
Second, the service personnel control the posture of tourists and the even distribution of weight. At present, there are some problems in the process of realization. Now tourists are rich in nutrition and their weight is very heavy. We now have 85 kg, which used to be 80 kg. Now we ask the manufacturer to have 85 kg, but it still can't meet the needs of our tourists' weight increase. So this piece still depends on whether the amusement equipment manufacturers have a new breakthrough in weight. Some tourists are not easy to come up. If the weight is not good, they will be dissatisfied. In this area, we are standardized. We use a large number of students for testing and training, because every water park is dominated by students. We bring the old with the new. Like our happy valley in Shanghai, we have a basic team, and we have standardized people. So we usually carry out standardized training in advance. These safe operation elements should be standardized in place. At the same time, when we are on the scene, we will tell the tourists that whether it's video, pattern or sound, we will try our best to show them on the tower. It should be added that, in addition to the operation, there is also one of the most important. It is very important for the equipment maintenance personnel to inspect and test the entertainment facilities every day. During the operation of the equipment, continuous inspection is also required. For the water volume, for the slide body, the glass cylinder, whether it will burst due to the change of temperature. This must be tested. This is the basic details, on the entertainment equipment, to maximize the safety.
Third, in the area of our tourists, we usually inform the tourists about the control of the travel posture. At the same time, we also remind the tourists as much as possible. We think that the elderly are not suitable for playing, and we will operate by writing a letter of safety commitment. He said that I have to play, why can't I play? In fact, many of them can't play because they are more exciting. Second, you should be considerate of the tourists' posture. He must be stimulated. We need to rely on some measures to reduce the damage, such as making some soft helmets, or even making some soft pads to protect him when the slideway is bumpy and the rectification is not in place. For example, in a big six person circle, is there a ring added? These measures should be taken or not. Of course, in the end, some of them should cooperate with amusement equipment manufacturers to rectify it.