An 11-year-old boy died and three more people were injured after an Altoona, Iowa amusement park’s Raging River water ride raft flipped this past Saturday. Though reporters in the video up top say four people were on-board at the time of the accident, later descriptions say that number was six.
The child, who died from his injuries on Sunday, has been identified as Michael Jaramillo. His older brother is in a medically induced coma at the hospital. He’s reported to be in critical condition.
The boys’ father says that he and other family members were trapped by the ride’s seatbelts when the craft capsized on Saturday evening.
“When it flipped over, all of us were trapped in the safety seat belts,” said the father in an interview broadcast on Tuesday. “I see the silhouettes of my sons trying to grab each other, grab us. They want us to help them. We couldn’t do it.”
Two other riders, also said to be members of the same family, suffered injuries.
“I feel like Adventureland robbed me of my baby,” said Michael’s mother Sabrina. “I will never get a chance to see him grow up.”
In a statement given to CBS News, Adventureland Park said that the ride is closed while an investigation that involves both state and local authorities takes place.
“Adventureland is saddened to learn of the passing of one Guest involved in the Raging River accident on the evening of 7/3/21” read a statement from the park. “At this time, we ask for your thoughts and prayers for the Guest and their family, as well as for our team members who were on site.”
According to KCCI, the ride had just reopened to the public on Friday after being shut down since 2020. Park officials say it underwent a full inspection first. The attraction has been around since 1983, and operates on a conveyor belt that guides circular rafts through rapids.
When the boat overturned it’s reported that witnesses and emergency personnel helped to get the riders free. It was also reported that it was difficult for fire officials to get to the location because of the ride’s “remote distance” from entrances to the park.
Lance Routson of the local fire department said responders had to go 200 to 300 yards to get to the ride. “The closest [walked] maybe about a hundred. That’s the closest we could actually get an apparatus there, and they would have to walk the rest of the way and carry their equipment and so forth back,” he said.
NBC Chicago reports that the incident is the second fatal one to occur on the ride in the past five years. In 2016 a seasonal employee, 68-year-old Steve Booher, was helping riders in and out of their seats when the ride unexpectedly moved and knocked him onto a conveyor belt below. Booher got wedged between a boat and a concrete wall and had his head rammed repeatedly until the ride was shut off. His cause of death was listed as trauma to his skull and brain. An insurer for the park settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Booher’s widow last December.
