KANSAS CITY, Kan. - A 10-year-old boy has died after an accident on the Verrückt at Schlitterbahn Waterpark, according to Winter Prosapio, corporate director of communications. 
 
 The accident happened Sunday afternoon at the water park in Kansas City, Kansas. 
 
 The child who died is Caleb Schwab, the son of Kansas Rep. Scott Schwab, R-Olathe. 
 
 A GoFundMe page has been set up to help a Kansas lawmaker's family cover funeral expenses for a 10-year-old son who died at a water park in Kansas City, Kansas. The campaign set up for state Rep. Scott Schwab's family had raised more than $15,000 by late Monday morning. 
 
 Representative Scott Schwab and his wife Michele released the following statement on Sunday: 
 
 "Michele and I want to thank the Olathe and Kansas City, Kansas communities and all of our friends and family for their outpouring of support and compassion as it relates to the sudden loss of our son, Caleb Thomas Schwab. 
 
 
 
 Since the day he was born, he brought abundant joy to our family and all those he came in contact with. As we try to mend our home with him no longer with us, we are comforted knowing he believed in our Savior Jesus, and they are forever together now. We will see him another day. 
 
 
 
 Your continued prayers are welcome and appreciated. We appreciate your understanding of our family's need for privacy during this difficult time of grieving." 
 
 Speaker Ray Merrick’s office sent out an email to state lawmakers this afternoon and many were at the water park for Elected Official Day. 
 
 The email from Merrick stated: 
 
 "House Members, It is with an absolutely broken heart we have to ask for prayers for the Schwab family who suddenly and tragically lost their sweet and energetic son in an accident today. No words can express the pain we all feel for this terrible tragedy. We will share remembrance details when we receive them." 
 
 More than one water park guest told 41 Action News that the harness on the ride was not working earlier in the day. 
 
 "A lady in front of me said that multiple times she rode the ride today, the Verrückt, and that the front harness did not work any of the times that she rode it,” said Jessica Lundquist, park guest. 
 
 The Kansas City, Kansas Police Department said they are investigating the death. Police said on Tuesday that Caleb suffered a fatal neck injury. 
 
 Officers working an apparent accident death investigation at Schlitterbahn. No other details at this time. — Terry Zeigler (@KCKPDChief) August 7, 2016 
 
 “We honestly don’t know what’s happened. That’s why an investigation, a full investigation is necessary. We have to understand what’s happened,” said Winter Prosapio. 
 
 The water park will be closed until Wednesday. Guests were refunded via gift card or cash. 
 
 “Right now our focus is on that family. And I understand the feeling that you want a lot of information right now and we will get that information and find out what happened,” said Prosapio. 
 
 Here's the Kansas law that requires @Schlitterbahn to shut down #Verruckt immediately after Sunday's death. pic.twitter.com/TdsdU7kDxk — Andres Gutierrez (@AFGutierrez) August 7, 2016 
 
 Schlitterbahn also released a statement after the incident on their Facebook page. It reads: 
 
 “We are saddened to share that a young boy died on Verrückt this afternoon. Given that safety is our first priority, we have closed the Kansas City park today and Monday and have closed the ride pending a full investigation. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family during this difficult time.” 
 
 Verrückt’s history 
 
 Verrückt is the world’s tallest water slide and has faced a lot of controversy. 
 
 There were concerns about the safety of Verrückt before it was even finished. In fact, the park delayed opening the slide at least four times. 
 
 At 17 stories high and over 168 feet tall, the ride had issues from testing. Schlitterbahn admitted problems with the conveyor system, gearbox, and shafts. The angle of the slide was altered and the company denies it was because rafts were flying off the slide. 
 
 Riders have to be at least 54 inches tall and the weight of the four-person raft needs to be between 400 and 550 pounds. 
 
 Jeff Henry, the co-owner of Schlitterbahn was quoted in the past talking about Verrückt saying, “It’s dangerous, but it’s safe dangerous now.” 
 
 
 
 Editor's Note: A previous version of this story stated the incorrect age for Caleb Schwab, the story has been updated to reflect his accurate age of 10 years old. 
 
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 Like 41 Action News on Facebook: ||||| FILE - In this Wednesday, March 18, 2015 file photo, Kansas state Rep. Scott Schwab speaks at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. The young son of a Kansas state lawmaker died on a water slide that is billed... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Wednesday, March 18, 2015 file photo, Kansas state Rep. Scott Schwab speaks at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. The young son of a Kansas state lawmaker died on a water slide that is billed as the world's largest, according to officials and the boy's family. Authorities did not immediately... (Associated Press) 
 
 KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas waterslide billed as the world's tallest remained off-limits Monday as authorities pressed to figure out how a state lawmaker's 10-year-old son died of a neck injury while riding it. 
 
 Details remained murky about what happened Sunday to Caleb Thomas Schwab on the 168-foot-tall "Verruckt" — German for "insane" — that since its debut two years ago has been the top draw at Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City, Kansas. 
 
 Kansas City, Kansas, police issued a statement late Monday afternoon saying that Caleb suffered a fatal neck injury around 2:30 p.m. while he was riding the slide with two women, neither of whom was related to him. They suffered minor facial injuries and were treated at an area hospital, police said. 
 
 Emergency responders arrived to find the boy dead in a pool at the end of the ride, according to the statement, which offered no further details. 
 
 In a statement Monday afternoon, Schlitterbahn said it was "deeply and intensely saddened for the Schwab family and all who were impacted by the tragic accident." The park was tentatively scheduled to reopen Wednesday, but "Verruckt is closed," according to the statement. 
 
 Officer Cameron Morgan, a police spokesman, said no police report about the incident was available. He said investigators were treating Caleb's death as a "civil matter" rather than a criminal one and referred additional questions to the park. 
 
 Schlitterbahn spokeswoman Winter Prosapio declined interview requests Monday but told reporters a day earlier that Caleb had been at the park with family members, adding that "we honestly don't know what's happened." 
 
 It wasn't immediately clear whether results of an autopsy Monday on Caleb would be publicly released or, if so, how soon, said Margaret Studyvin with the Wyandotte County coroner's office. 
 
 Leslie Castaneda, who was at Schlitterbahn on Sunday, told The Kansas City Star that she saw Caleb's crumpled shorts or bathing suit at the bottom of the ride, along with blood on the slide's white descending flume. 
 
 "I'm really having a tough time with it. I really am," said Castaneda, of Kansas City, Kansas. "I saw his (Caleb's) brother. He was screaming." 
 
 On the waterslide certified by Guinness World Records as the world's tallest, riders sit in multi-person rafts during "the ultimate in water slide thrills," subjecting "adventure seekers" to a "jaw dropping" 17-story drop, the park's website says. Passengers then are "blasted back up a second massive hill and then sent down yet another gut wrenching 50 foot drop," the website adds. 
 
 Each rider must be at least 54 inches tall, and the group's weight is limited to a total of 400 to 550 pounds. Authorities didn't release information about Caleb's height or the combined weight of his group of riders. 
 
 According to rules sent to the media in 2014, riders had to be at least 14 years old, but that requirement is no longer listed on the park's website. 
 
 Caleb's parents — Republican state Rep. Scott Schwab and his wife, Michele — have requested privacy as the family grieves, saying in a statement Sunday that "since the day he was born, (Caleb) brought abundant joy to our family and all those he came in contact with." 
 
 "As we try to mend our home with him no longer with us, we are comforted knowing he believed in our Savior Jesus, and they are forever together now. We will see him another day," the statement added. 
 
 The tragedy happened on a day the park offered lawmakers and other elected officials a buffet lunch, hot dogs and hamburgers. 
 
 Verruckt's 2014 opening repeatedly was delayed, though the operators didn't explain why. Two media sneak preview days in 2014 were canceled because of problems with a conveyor system that hauls 100-pound rafts to the top of the slide. 
 
 In a news article linked to the news release announcing a 2014 delay, Schlitterbahn co-owner Jeff Henry told USA Today that he and senior designer John Schooley had based their calculations when designing the slide on roller coasters, but that didn't translate well to a waterslide like Verruckt. 
 
 In early tests, rafts carrying sandbags flew off the slide, prompting engineers to tear down half of the ride and reconfigure some angles at a cost of $1 million, Henry said. 
 
 A promotional video about building the slide includes footage of two men riding a raft down a half-size test model and going slightly airborne as it crests the top of the first big hill. 
 
 The Unified Government of Kansas City, Kansas, and Wyandotte County said it does not inspect the operations of such rides and is responsible only for ensuring they've adhered to local building codes. 
 
 Without specifically mentioning waterslides, Kansas statutes define an "amusement ride" as any mechanical or electrical conveyance "for the purpose of giving its passengers amusement, pleasure, thrills or excitement." Such rides, by statute, commonly are Ferris wheels, carousels, parachute towers, bungee jumps and roller coasters. 
 
 State law leaves it to the Kansas Department of Labor to adopt rules and regulations relating to certification and inspection of rides, adding that a permanent amusement ride must be scrutinized by "a qualified inspector" at least every 12 months. Kansas' Labor Department didn't return messages Monday. 
 
 Prosapio said Sunday the park's rides are inspected daily and by an "outside party" before the start of each season. 
 
 Kansas state Sen. Greg Smith, an Overland Park Republican, said that although state law doesn't specifically address waterslides, it's clear they "would fall into that category." He called any potential legislative response to Sunday's tragedy premature, saying the investigation should be given time to play out. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writers Maria Sudekum, Bill Draper and Margaret Stafford in Kansas City, John Hanna in Topeka and Roxana Hegeman in Wichita contributed to this report. ||||| Caleb Thomas Schwab, killed Sunday afternoon while riding the world’s tallest water slide at Schlitterbahn Kansas City Water Park, was found dead with what police on Monday evening termed a “fatal neck injury.” 
 
 Numerous questions still remain over the death of 10-year-old Caleb, who is the second oldest son of Kansas state Rep. Scott Schwab and Michele Schwab of Olathe. 
 
 Kansas City, Kan., police on Monday evening released a statement saying that when police and fire personnel arrived at the park about 2:30 p.m., the boy was found dead in the pool at the end of the water ride. 
 
 Caleb, police noted, had been in the ride’s three-person raft with two adult women who were unrelated to him. The women sustained minor facial injuries and were treated at area hospitals. 
 
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 “The family will be in our thoughts,” the statement said. Their investigation continues. 
 
 One day after the tragic death, the family has been left in grief. Neighbors and friends are in shock, as are those who were at the park. 
 
 Leslie Castaneda of Kansas City, Kan., can’t get the aftermath image of Caleb’s death out of her head. She said she witnessed what she thought to be the boy’s crumpled shorts or bathing suit at the bottom of the 168-foot-tall Verrückt ride, blood on the white descending flume of the world’s tallest water slide. 
 
 “I’m really having a tough time with it. I really am,” said Casteneda, who came upon the scene inside Schlitterbahn shortly after it occurred. “I saw his (Caleb’s) brother. He was screaming.” 
 
 Many are left wondering how the events of Sunday came to pass. 
 
 In Wyandotte County, the medical examiner conducted an autopsy, but the office said it was not yet ready to release preliminary results. 
 
 The family’s friend and spokesman, the Rev. Clint Sprague, held a news conference Monday evening announcing that a funeral for Caleb is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday at LifeMission Church, 16111 S. Lone Elm Road in Olathe. A GoFundMe fundraising web page for funeral and other expenses was set up and has exceeded its $15,000 goal. 
 
 “It’s just been amazing the people who have come together praying for them, encouraging them and supporting them,” said Sprague, the lead pastor at the church. “They feel it.” 
 
 Sprague said he has spent the last 24-plus hours with Scott and Michele Schwab and their three other children. 
 
 “As you can imagine, it’s been devastating,” Sprague said. “It’s been devastating at every level. You know, you leave church, you go to a water park to be with family and to enjoy. And then you hit tragedy. There is just no way to prepare for this.” 
 
 Sprague described Caleb as a boy who loved Jesus — and not just a “going to church” kind of love. 
 
 “He loved Jesus,” he said. “He loved to talk about Jesus. He loved to pray.” 
 
 Michele Schwab told Sprague that anytime someone had a need or something like this happened to someone else, Caleb was the one to say that they had to pray. 
 
 “Caleb was a 10-year-old child, but in many ways he was a man of God,” Sprague said. “He’s going to be missed for his energy, for his life, for his smile, for the way he lit up a room.” 
 
 Sprague said he didn’t have details about the accident that took Caleb’s life. 
 
 “What I can tell you is that this family is coming together and grieving together,” he said. “We are asking everybody to give us space to do that.” 
 
 The Schwabs have hired Michael Rader and Edward Robertson Jr. from the Leawood law firm Bartimus Frickleton Robertson. The firm said neither the family nor its lawyers would make public statements about the incident until an investigation was concluded. 
 
 Although the Verrückt remains closed, Schlitterbahn on Monday afternoon said the park would reopen Wednesday and that grief counselors were being provided at Schlitterbahn Kansas City for employees and guests. 
 
 Many of the details of the events of Sunday remain unclear. According to those close to the family, the Schwabs attended church Sunday morning and debated whether go to the water park, given the cool weather, early clouds and forecast for possible rain. When the sun came out, Scott and Michele Schwab took their four boys to the water park for a day in which admission was free to families of area elected officials. 
 
 Soon after arriving, Caleb and his brother Nathan, 12, set off into the park with friends. Scott and Michele Schwab tended to their two younger boys. 
 
 Kansas City, Kan., police are investigating the Caleb’s death as a criminal matter. 
 
 “It is a death investigation,” said Officer Cameron Morgan, a Police Department spokesman. “Every death is technically a criminal matter until we clear it or categorize it as an accident. We are still investigating it and trying to figure out what happened.” 
 
 Among the many questions yet to be answered: 
 
 ▪ How exactly did Caleb die? Pending an investigation, Schlitterbahn has released no information about the death, including at what point Caleb was injured — whether it was at the top of the ride, along its descending path, or somewhere along the ride’s second and much lower rise and fall. Investigators on Sunday removed a section of the netting attached to the final descending portion of the ride just before the ride ends in a pool. 
 
 ▪ Was he ejected from the raft, did he come loose from the raft or was he injured while still inside the craft? Police said responders found Caleb in the pool at the end of the ride, but no one knows how his body got there. 
 
 ▪ Did the ride somehow fail or malfunction? 
 
 ▪ Did the raft containing Caleb meet the required weight and/or height requirement? According to Schlitterbahn’s website, the ride holds two or three riders per raft with a required combined weight of at least 400 pounds. Riders have to be at least 54 inches tall. 
 
 ▪ Was Caleb properly secured into the raft? Or did he somehow come loose or somehow unfasten his restraint? The rafts use a Velcro lap belt and a single shoulder restraint. The belts are made of heavy fabric, secured with Velcro. 
 
 Before opening to the public in 2014, Verrückt did not have netting covering the flume. Mike Taylor, a spokesman for the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kan., said it insisted on adding the netting to the top. 
 
 “We raised that issue,” Taylor said Monday. 
 
 The sides of Verrückt aren’t tall, designed that way so riders can see out of the chute. 
 
 “I think they realized we need to put that extra safety precaution,” Taylor said. “The sides on that thing are really low.” 
 
 The design was changed so that netting is attached above the flume with a series of semicircular supports. 
 
 The Unified Government’s Development Review Committee examined plans for Verrückt before the attraction opened. That committee includes representatives from the the Kansas City, Kan., Fire Department, the Board of Public Utilities, the city’s building inspection and engineering departments, and the Public Health Department. The review process did not evaluate the how the ride worked or was supposed to operate, nor is there any state or local law that compels the city to carry out such an inspection. 
 
 Since 2014, Schlitterbahn has been sued three times in Kansas City, Kan., for personal injury claims, although none were related to the Verrückt water slide. 
 
 Linda Stomboly filed suit in 2014 after suffering injuries to her leg as she rode King Kaw, a 3,000-foot river ride where visitors travel on rafts. Schlitterbahn denied wrongdoing. The case was settled for undisclosed terms in the case in which Stomboly said she was injured after a collision with another rider in front of her. 
 
 The collision allegedly threw her from her raft. As she tried to get back on her raft, she fell over a waterfall on the ride and suffered spiral fractures to her leg. Her lawsuit contended that Schlitterbahn failed to test and determine the appropriate intervals for releasing visitors onto the ride, and that riders were not warned of potential dangers arising from collisions with other riders. 
 
 Schlitterbahn denied wrongdoing in its response to Stomboly’s lawsuit and charged that her negligence contributed to her injuries. 
 
 Stomboly sought $223,934 in damages in that case, a sum that included lost wages, past and future medical expenses, and non-economic damages. Schlitterbahn offered $20,000. The case later settled on terms that were not disclosed. 
 
 Frances Logan sued the water park the same year for injuries suffered on the same ride. Logan’s lawsuit said that her inner tube flipped over and that her left foot hit a concrete wall. Her lawsuit added that no lifeguards were on duty to assist her, leaving other patrons to pull her off the ride. 
 
 Schlitterbahn denied her claims, and the case settled last year. 
 
 Robert Boepple also sued Schlitterbahn in 2014 for injuries he suffered in 2012. Boepple contended that he injured his head, neck, arm and spine when he tripped over a protrusion on the Boogie Bahn ride. Schlitterbahn denied wrongdoing in that case, too. 
 
 Boepple sought $500,000 in damages in that case. The lawsuit settled in 2015. 
 
 Caleb’s death is not the first at a Schlitterbahn facility. In 2013, lifeguard Nico Benavides, 20, was killed at the company’s park on South Padre Island, Texas, when a mechanical door related to a wave generator slammed on his head. 
 
 Benavides was pronounced brain dead. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued the park a half-dozen citations with penalties exceeding $96,000. By 2015, the park’s parent company had settled for $66,000. 
 
 In Texas, where Schlitterbahn runs four water parks, the company has reported 61 instances of injuries since 2011 to the Texas Department of Insurance. That department requires amusement parks to report injuries that require the attention of a licensed physician. 
 
 Schlitterbahn’s 61 injury reports at four parks are more than the 41 reported by Great Wolf Lodge’s location in Grapevine, Texas, but fewer than the 72 reported by Six Flags in Arlington, Texas. 
 
 When the Verrückt water slide opened at Schlitterbahn in 2014, the rules for riding included a minimum age of 14, a minimum height of 54 inches and a combined weight of all riders in the raft of between 400 and 550 pounds. Park officials told USA Today at the time, however, that the age requirement was being removed because the height requirement was deemed sufficient. 
 
 In the hours after the incident Sunday, Schlitterbahn removed references to the Verrückt from its Kansas City water park’s website. The company later tweeted that it had restored the page “for those who are interested in rider requirements.” In its statement Monday, the company referred readers to its Verrückt Fact Sheet. 
 
 Guinness World Records affirmed the Verrückt is the tallest water slide in the world at 168 feet, 7 inches. It surpassed the previous record holder, which was the Kilimanjaro water slide in Brazil at 163 feet, 9 inches. The Brazilian slide has higher walls on the chute and is not covered by a net. Participants lie on their backs without a raft. 
 
 The rest of the list can be seen here. A YouTube video summarizes 10 water park tragedies around the world. 
 
 Casteneda said the death in Kansas City, Kan., sent visitors at the park into disbelieving shock. 
 
 “To tell you the truth, I don’t know happened,” she said. “There was a lot of looks of, ‘What’s going on?’ It was just a blur.”
– The death of 10-year-old Caleb Thomas Schwab on the world's tallest waterslide Sunday was the result of a "fatal neck injury," police said Monday—but they have not disclosed what caused the injury. As the investigation into the boy's death at the Schlitterbahn Kansas City Water Park continues, many details remain unclear, including whether the ride somehow malfunctioned and whether Caleb was properly secured in the raft before he went down the 168-foot slide, the Kansas City Star reports. Police say Caleb, whose body was found in a pool at the bottom of the slide, had been in a three-person raft with two adult women he was not related to, who both suffered minor facial injuries. People close to the family tell the Star that Caleb, son of Kansas state Rep. Scott Schwab, went off with his 12-year-old brother and friends after arriving at the park, while his parents stayed with their two younger sons. Several people who were at the park that day told KSHB that there had been problems with the Verruckt waterslide. "A lady in front of me said that multiple times she rode the ride today, the Verruckt, and that the front harness did not work any of the times that she rode it," says park guest Jessica Lundquist. The AP reports that the park—which issued a statement Monday saying it was "deeply and intensely saddened for the Schwab family"—plans to reopen Wednesday, but the Verruckt will remain closed.