Slide Falls, Kills Teen 32 Hurt, 6 Critically After Grads Pile Onto Water Slide

A water slide packed with graduating high school seniors collapsed near San Francisco on Monday afternoon, hurling one student 30 feet to her death and injuring 32 others as they plunged into asphalt, wooden stairs, bark and shrubs. Six were in critical condition.

The injured teenagers - most, if not all, from Napa High School - were at Waterworld USA in Concord for their senior picnic and had reportedly ignored a posted warning to slide down singly.

Instead they “rushed onto the ride” so they could hold hands and careen downward one last time before boarding school buses for home, according to interviews.

The students, who suffered everything from broken bones to bruises, were airlifted or driven to nine Bay Area hospitals and trauma centers.

The collapse was horrific. Witnesses said they could hear the slide, called the Banzai Pipeline, buckle and snap, then they heard free-falling students screaming and slamming to the ground.

And it was quick.

“It just cracked and gave way,” said patron Russ Tiberio. “Crack, snap, gone. That fast.”

The water in a holding pool at the bottom reportedly turned red.

The seniors were due to graduate June 12 from Napa High and were trying to get in one last ride, said Rick McCurley, vice president of Premier Parks, which owns Waterworld.

At 3:30 p.m., the park announced that the students were to return to their buses for the trip home, apparently causing the students to rush the lifeguard, McCurley said.

Steve Mayer, Waterworld’s general manager, said the lifeguard at the top normally allows just one person at a time down the slides. But he said “our guard couldn’t control” the large group.

Several survivors who had returned to Napa High School said the students were trying to break a school record for total number on the slide when it gave way, KCBS radio reported.

They said there were at least 60 students on the slide, while McCurley said it was more like 30, many holding hands when it collapsed.

A 17-year-old female, suffered a crushed chest and died, said Dave Dyer, with the coroner’s office. The senior class selected the park for their senior picnic, Napa High administrator Noreen Hanna said.

About 200 members of the 400-student graduating class made the trip.

Students wept as they disembarked from their buses after the return trip to school. One described what happened as “a textbook nightmare.”