Nearly a decade ago, a 10-year-old child died on the ‘world’s highest water slide.’.

Caleb Schwab rode the Verrückt waterslide—which translates to ‘crazy’ or ‘insane’ in German—at Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City on August 7, 2016.

Verrückt was originally the world’s highest waterslide, measuring 168 feet (51 meters) and reaching speeds of 70 mph.

Riders would board a raft and descend a near-vertical drop before being pushed over another hill.

On the day of the tragedy, however, Caleb’s raft flew airborne and collided with a metal hoop and netting designed to keep passengers within.

The impact resulted in fatal injuries.

Two women with shattered jaws and facial fractures joined Caleb on his raft.

Investigations into the event revealed that the ride had major design problems and was not adequately tested.

The world record appears to have taken precedence over engineering standards.

The POV film below depicts the risks of the slide that claimed the child’s life.

Verrückt was permanently shuttered after Caleb, the son of Kansas state lawmaker Scott Schwab, died.

The Schwab family earned £15.8 million ($20 million) from several parties, including Schlitterbahn. Meanwhile, two other passengers reached secret legal agreements.

The slide’s creators, Jeff Henry and John Schooley, were first jailed on charges of second-degree murder and 17 other felonies.

However, in February 2019, both were granted the all-clear owing to inadmissible evidence.

Judge Robert Burns stated, “The court has serious doubts as to whether the irregularities and improprieties improperly influenced the grand jury and ultimately bolstered its decision to indict these defendants.”

“Quite simply, these defendants were not afforded the due process protections and fundamental fairness Kansas law requires..

In 2019, Nathan Truesdell of The Atlantic produced The Water Slide, a documentary on the terrifying event.

Nathan said to me, “My initial thought was that it must have been a freak accident—what a horrible, horrible story.”

“But as I looked closer, I realized how complicated this story was and how it could have happened to anyone who went down that slide.”

“There was really little science or ride engineering involved in the testing and design.

“They were sending sandbags down, hoping they wouldn’t fly off the slope.

“To prevent the rafts from flying off of the slide completely, we added the netting that ultimately killed the child.”