THE parents of the young boy who died in the summer while riding down a waterslide in Kansas City have broken their silence for the first time.
Devastated dad, Scott Scwhab, said that "Before they took off I said, 'Brothers stick together.' And he said, "I know dad."
The little lad was riding down the 168-foot Verruckt slide when he was flung off and fell 50-feet to his death.
The slide, which's name means 'insane' in German, consists of a multi-person raft which makes a 17-storey drop at speeds of up to 70mph.
Scott told Good Morning America of the last time he spoke to Caleb just before he and his brother Nathan, 12, set off for the ride, which has now been torn down.
Then after the tragedy struck Caleb's mum Michelle recalled her eldest son's screams of terror after the accident.
She said: "He was screaming: 'He flew from Verruckt! He flew from Verruckt!'"
The heartbroken mother then added how when she tried to see what had happened to her son a man stopped her going any further.
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Michelle continued: "There was a gentleman who wouldn't allow me to come close enough to see what was going on and kept saying: 'No, trust me. You don't want to go any further.'"
At that point Scott said that in his state of shock he repeatedly asked the man if his son had lost his life.
He asked: "I just need to hear it from you, is my son dead." And he just shook his head, and I said, 'I need to hear it from you, is he dead?
"And he said, "Yes, your son is dead.'"
"It was surreal. I don't even hardly remember driving home."
They both the heartbreakingly revealed that they most missed giving little Caleb hugs, with Scott saying he especially missed his "morning hug" with his son who was torn away from him.
Cops began an investigation into the lad's untimely death but didn't file charges, the dispute was settled in a civil suit in January.
The precise details are unknown but court transcripts reveal that all three of Caleb's brothers will receive lifetime payments from Schlitterbahn Waterparks and the manufacturer of slide, Zebec.
Witness Esteban Castaneda told ABC 7 that he heard booms coming from the slide and then saw a body wash down the slide just after the raft.
He said the body appeared to be decapitated with safety concerns now raised over the ride.
Kansas City Police have released more information about the tragic incident, saying the young boy suffered a "fatal neck injury at the end of the ride".
The two other women on the tide, who were not related to Caleb, were still strapped inside the raft with one nursing a broken jaw and another with a broken face bone, while the first seat in the raft was empty, likely to have been where Caleb was sitting.
They said they did not know what had happened. One said she had her eyes closed for the whole ride.
One witness described the scene as "the worst day in her life".
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