Ride at Iowa amusement park where boy died will never reopen

The experience at an Iowa amusement park the place an 11-year-old boy was killed in 2021 won’t ever reopen, the park’s homeowners mentioned.

Invoice Lentz, Adventureland’s normal supervisor, mentioned in a letter posted on the park’s web site Friday that after spending months reviewing the security of the Raging River experience, officers determined to shut it completely.

“The choice comes after months of examination of the experience, working intently with its producer to establish what enhancements every would want to satisfy our working requirements,” Lentz mentioned within the assertion. “Based mostly upon that evaluation, one of the best path ahead is to shut Raging River, and concentrate on enhancing the Adventureland expertise elsewhere.”

Michael Jaramillo died and his brother and father had been injured on July 3, 2021, after their raft overturned and trapped them within the water. The experience makes use of a conveyor belt to maneuver giant round rafts by means of rapids.

The park was offered to Palace Leisure within the wake of the boy’s demise and Lentz took over as normal supervisor in 2022. Palace Leisure is the U.S. subsidiary of Madrid-based Parques Reunidos.

The Jaramillo household filed a lawsuit towards Adventureland and its former homeowners in June 2022, and a separate declare towards the state of Iowa in September 2022. That lawsuit is tentatively set for trial subsequent spring. The previous homeowners have maintained that the experience was protected.

State officers cited the park in November 2021 for 17 security violations associated to Jaramillo’s demise. The Des Moines Register experiences that the violations included utilizing Flex Seal as a substitute of accepted patches to repair leaks in rafts’ flotation bladders, which preserve the experience afloat, and never adequately documenting or testing repairs.

In 2016, seasonal worker Steve Booher, 68, was killed after he fell when the experience started shifting unexpectedly. He turned wedged between a ship and a concrete sidewall, and his head was repeatedly rammed. He died days later.