adventureland's raging river disaster
a birthday celebration turned deadly on
july 3rd 2021 when eleven-year-old
michael jaramillo drowned on the raging
river ride at iowa's adventure land
amusement park the family was there to
celebrate his brother david's upcoming
16th birthday
sadly the rapids ride took a sudden turn
as their raft capsized
michael and his brother david couldn't
release their seat belt restraint
leaving them trapped and drowning as
their parents shouted for help
why did the 800 kilogram raft flip over
how was the emergency handled at the
park
and what did the official investigation
uncover
these are the questions i wanted to
answer when i started my research
and there's just a few weekends left at
adventureland dumps
advertised as a great way to cool off
with the whole family the raging river
ride had been a staple of the
adventureland resort since its opening
in 1983.
on the ride six-person rafts move
through faux river rapids
raging rivers designer intimate
amusement rides from liechtenstein is
well known for its thrill ride and
roller coaster designs featured at
amusement parks worldwide
so how did such a popular ride end in
disaster
the chain of events started on july 2nd
2021 one day before the fatal accident
an inspection carried out by the iowa
state inspector
bruno j burriola was passed he checked
the newly installed control system on
the ride's operation and visually
inspected the boats
it had passed all inspections carried
out in five years before this in april
the inspection checked the station and
draw without the boats and water
additionally just a month before the
boats were physically inspected
according to boreola the ride performed
as it should the day before the incident
july third twenty twenty one three pm
four and a half hours before the
accident
maintenance staff removed several rafts
from the ride for a deflated bladder
including boat number two which would
carry the hatamio family a few hours
later
each of the boats eight bladders were
monitored and routinely taken out to be
refilled with air or replaced if they
became deflated
5 45 pm
except for one all the repaired rafts
were returned to the ride boat number
two was back in service
although the quality of those boat
repairs would be closely questioned
later at the time all seemed to be in
working order
shortly afterward 31 year old amber
estrada went on the ride with her family
they experienced problems with the raft
during the journey leaving the mother of
three feeling unsafe
she told reporters that the boat often
got stuck under her feet making a
grinding sound
the estrada family decided to lean
forward in their seats to stop their
raft from capsizing
amber didn't report the incident to the
park because her autistic son was upset
and they needed to leave
sometime before 7 30 p.m
the jaramillo family david senior his
wife sabrina and their young adult niece
and three sons ages 11 14 and 15 boarded
boat number two and began moving along
the rapids on the ride
the family realized that their raft was
slowly filling with water along the
route
it then bumped into rocks placed along
the ride designed to move the raft
further along
when it flipped over um
all of us were trapped in uh seats and
seat belts 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 i
will never get a chance to see them grow
up
david senior became trapped between the
capsized raft and rocks
he broke his shoulder in a desperate
attempt to escape and free his trapped
sons then adding to the chaos the boat
behind the jaramillos came down the
river and knocked into their upturned
raft
it managed to pass continuing to the end
of the ride
passengers jumped into the water when
the next boat came past to help
they were quickly joined by workers
preparing nearby fireworks who heard
screaming and rushed to help
7 30 pm
a 9-1-1 call came into the altoona
dispatch center just outside of des
moines iowa
the dispatchers struggled to understand
the emergency over screaming voices
911
hello where where eventually park has
been an accident on the yellow rides
the caller was emmanuel rico a 16 year
old boy from nevada who was two boats
ahead on the raging river ride
as he watched the horror from the raft
he was in he told the operator about
david senior screaming for help
the panicked father was already covered
in bruises
according to the 9-1-1 caller there were
no staff members by the river watching
the rafts
frantic bystanders alerted off-duty
altoona police and fire medics working
alongside park security that day they
then rushed across the park to help
park employees were still seemingly
unaware
meanwhile the 911 center managed to
figure out rico's location during the
frantic call and immediately sent help
7 45 pm
firemen police and ambulances arrived on
the scene
they followed the pre-arranged protocol
and went to the emergency entrance a set
of park gates designed for fast access
during a crisis
to their dismay the access gates were
chained shut
emergency officials moved to gate 2 the
closest access to the water ride however
preparations for a july 4th fireworks
show entirely blocked the area
as a result the ambulance could only
reach 100 meters from the site adding
crucial minutes to their response time
on arrival emergency personnel
discovered that the rapids ride wasn't
drained and still had 60 centimeters of
water standing in the trough surrounding
the haramio's boat
the family later estimated that their
sons were trapped under water in the
upside down raft for around 10 minutes
unable to release their seat belts to
escape
their youngest michael died the
following day as a result of the
accident
their middle son august suffered only
minor scrapes and bruises
david junior the oldest of the three
suffered from oxygen deprivation and
spent a month on life support
initially he was placed in a medically
induced coma
when he first regained consciousness he
could neither see nor speak he has since
regained his vision speech and his
walking and eating solid food
as news of the accident made headlines
the main question remained
why did the raft flip over
the state immediately ordered that the
ride shut down the next morning a full
inspection was performed in daylight
searching for answers
the iowa division of labor investigator
confirmed that the raft touched the
bottom of the water trough multiple
times during the haramio's trip down the
river causing it to deflate partially
the inspector identified scrape marks in
the concrete and fresh gouges in the
wooden weirs
as the air left the raft it turned
upside down on the ride's final curve
forcing the haramio family into the
water
the haramio's boat was left with one of
its bladders deflated and an exterior
indentation on the outer rubber tube
the boats weighed 800 kilograms each and
had a heavy metal plate on the bottom
for stability
according to guy cook an attorney
representing adventureland the boats
would not flip due to a single deflated
bladder
he believes with the weight on the boats
also evenly distributed it would be
extremely difficult for the massive raft
to flip over even if one of the bladders
had deflated
the attorney boldly stated the ride is
clearly safe and has run thousands of
times over the past 40 years without
incident essentially the resort claims
there had to be other factors at play
not only did the raft flip when it
technically shouldn't have the water in
that section also didn't fully drain
leaving the family trapped in 60
centimeters of water
if the ride was functioning as it should
have during previous inspections why
didn't the water drain
the investigation confirmed that the
ride operator did in fact hit the
emergency stop button once they
discovered the accident
this should have rapidly drained all the
water on the course into the ride's 4.5
million liters reservoir
the ride is designed as one long
downhill course surrounding the
reservoir and terminating with an outlet
into that retainer
therefore if the pumps are stopped the
force of gravity will drain the entire
ride allowing for safe maintenance or
rescue operations
one theory discussed online is that the
reservoir might have been overfilled at
the time of the accident likely from
rainwater
as a result water will gather in the
ride leaving a part of the course
flooded
a 2009 aerial photograph of the ride
shows the final stretch underwater while
the pumps are turned off
you can see a yellow boat stranded in
the same section where the jaramio's
raft flipped over and got stuck
a facebook post showed raging river in
this same overfilled condition one week
before the accident
the inspection before the 2021 season
was performed while the ride including
the reservoir was fully drained
the inspector stated that the emergency
stop and water draining system were not
tested at that time
it would have been nearly impossible to
recognize the risk of raft stranding on
the course without seeing the ride
filled with water
in contrast to adventureland's claims
there have been numerous incidents
involving riders globally
since 1984 21 accidents have been
recorded with eight fatalities
the potential dangers on rapids rides
have been apparent enough to amusement
park operators that the international
association of amusement parks and
attractions released recommendations on
their safe operation
for example parks must have surveillance
and a public address system that will
cover the entire ride
trained staff have to be on site which
is an area that adventureland fell short
on
full water rescue and evacuation
procedures need to be in place for
circumstances like jaramillo's
these should also be timed and reviewed
as businesses would with fire drills
another of the park's shortfalls that
the association recommends is access
points and pathways to the trough system
and emergency stops with the intended
effect on water must be tested
if these had been followed there is
great potential that michael jaramillo
would still be alive
after the accident state inspectors
found 17 safety violations related to
the ride
the weirs or dams were replaced with
incorrect parts and insufficient repairs
these included operating with inadequate
air pressures in the raft's bladders
instead of professional repairs the
leaks were hastily patched with flex
seal a tv infomercial product
the super strong waterproof tape
the ropes and the rafts were found to be
tied up incorrectly and staff's response
to back-to-back raft releases was
described as inadequate
further to these after the fixes the
park failed to test the ride without
passengers
then regarding the evacuation plan the
route for removing injured guests had
not been updated with park changes
slowing down the emergency response
worse still the report acknowledged the
fireworks setup blocked the route
the remaining findings dealt with
lacking ride supervision for evacuation
planning missing documentation and
inadequate staff training across all
levels of responsibility
months after the accident adventure
adventureland and the iowa state
inspectors have continued to focus on an
inexplicable error with the raft
despite the park's assertion that the
ride had been emergency stopped they
don't seem half as curious as to why the
water never fully drained from the
trough
to date many questions are left
unanswered like why it took staff so
long to respond and how the ride passed
an inspection
with the park closed for the season
time will tell whether adventure land
will be stricter in its adherence to
industry safety features in the future
if you want to read more in depth about
what went wrong spencer thompson wrote a
great article that i've linked in the
description
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story interesting please like this video
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