Police confirm: Caleb Schwab, 10, beheaded in water slide accident

As PEOPLE confirms, police have announced that 10-year-old Caleb Schwab, who was involved in a fatal accident at Schlitterbahn Water Park in Kansas City on Sunday, died of a “neck injury.”

Caleb was found dead at the bottom of the slide in the pool and police confirmed to PEOPLE that he was decapitated.

Witness Kelsey Friedrichsen previously told PEOPLE that she and her boyfriend were on their way to the top of the 170-foot Verruckt water slide for their scheduled 3 p.m. ride when they saw a large group gathered at the bottom.

“There was a woman being treated for an injury to her face and head,” Friedrichsen, 27, told PEOPLE. “That’s when my friend said, ‘I think there’s someone else there.'”

Her friend, Josh Foster, pointed out that rescue workers were guarding the body of 10-year-old Caleb. Two women in the boat – none of them related to Caleb – suffered minor facial injuries.

“It looked like he was somehow thrown out of his seat, bounced back and forth between the net and the slide and then just slid down,” Friedrichsen added. “Without the raft he would have fallen down. It’s kind of like a tube.”

Another witness, Esteban Castaneda, told ABC News that he and his 14-year-old cousin had used the slide earlier in the day and that the teen told him that toward the end of the ride, the Velcro fastener on her belt came loose.

Since the incident, Verruckt’s planned 2014 opening has been postponed several times due to mishaps, PEOPLE has learned. One problem included water rafts being thrown into the air from the slide.

“We had a lot of problems on the technical side,” said Jeff Henry, Verruckt inventor and co-owner of Schlitterbahn USA today. “Many of our calculations were initially based on roller coasters, and that didn’t translate to a water slide like this. No one had ever done anything like it before.”

However, Henry clarified that while the ride is still dangerous now that it is open, it is the safest way to go.

“It’s dangerous, but it’s certainly dangerous now,” he added. “Schlitterbahn is a family water park, but this is not a family ride. It’s for thrill seekers from all over the world, for people who like extreme adventures.”

Reporting by HILARY SHENFELD and CAITLIN KEATING