What?! Decapitated? I didn't hear that part of the story. oh my. Is the same water park ride in which the harness may have broken?

I have heard the report on several places....I think it is still under investigation as to the exact cause.

The reports all said he died from a "neck injury." PR at its finest. He was decapitated, and they said his headless body came down the chute into the pool at the base of the ride. What a cute little guy. We need safety regulations and inspections. Too many ride injuries this week alone.

That poor family.

My 8yr old GS just told me yesterday he wants to ride a roller coaster that 'loops the loop'. I said he'd have to do it without me--I don't ride roller coasters.

Sounds like people weren't always secure in the ride. What a heartbreaking tragedy. I know people love these thrill rides, but to me they are not thrilling, just frightening.

An early report said he died of a broken neck. Later, that language was changed to neck injury. The accident is yet under investigation and an official statement has not been made.

At one of my engineering sources, I got glimpse of what might have gone wrong. The 'sled' dives down the initial ramp reaching terrifying speeds. It then shoots up the first hill and it may be going too fast when it tops out and leaves the track. Initially, the testers had problems with the empty sled going airborne. They had to add weights to stabilize the sled. At this point, questions arose; Was the test representative?

Investigators, looking digging deeper, found there was no precedent for designing such a water slide, and that calculations had been based on roller coaster designs. This brought a question to my mind: I hope they realized that roller coasters have rollers on both the top and underside of the rails to contain the car under abnormal conditions.

Its my opinion that it will be a long time before any definitive statements will be made and those statements may be couched in words that do not explain details. Its a sad event.

I hope that slide is taken down and destroyed. This tragedy should have never happened, and I hope the family sues.

I feel badly for the family and anyone who had to witness that poor boy's remains.

Hopefully the horror of the details will move the public into action so nothing like this ever happens again.

I agree. Hiding the details lessens the impact and that in turn may lessen the incentive to make changes to increase safety.

Horrible accident but "dirty laundry" sensationalism.

I'm curious about what is "dirty laundry"? Are the grieved parties involved being maligned in any way?

No catering to delicate sensibilities should be done if it might assist in operation of a public hazard being allowed to continue. They built and opened a slide that wasn't competently designed and it killed somebody as a result. That is more important than whether or not somebody might be shocked by some possibly gruesome details.

The extreme violence of this boy's death should be forever seared into the mind of parents when it comes to assuming that rides are harmless and maintained.

I mean, VELCRO FOR CHRISSAKES! Who the frick straps human beings into a raft, capable of launching bodies like projectiles, with VELCRO?

I read that when the slide was built they initially sent boats down with sandbags in them for testing, and had issues with them flying out. Then they set the minimum age to 14 to meet weight goals. 2 years ago they took down those restrictions. They boy net their current rules, but the ride attendants may very well had not loaded it with the correct weight limit. People are now saying they too flew out of their seats but the straps held them in.

Totally agree with the Velcro comments. My dogs harness is Velcroed, so I could take him on this ride safely? Can't believe it. I don't do coasters any more but when I did , we had metal bars to confine us. The poor boy was decapitated, and in my opinion 10 years old is way too young to go on this ride. I pity the parents who made this decision.

So many lives shattered. It looks like they have three other boys.

Can you imagine being the person at the bottom who receives the rafts and helps people get out of them? I hope and pray that more lives aren't destroyed due to the shear trauma of what must have been a horrific sight that no one should ever witness.

Yes, an exponential effect. People carry these tragedies their entire lives.

Apparently each raft carries several people.

Can you imagine being the women on the same raft? I'd need heavy medication!

I can't imagine anyone would even want to ride that thing again. Let's hope this one accident was enough to close the ride down permanently.