WATCH: @ABC News Exclusive: Parents speak out about water park tragedy; 10-year-old killed on world’s tallest water slide. pic.twitter.com/M460GdMW6S — Good Morning America (@GMA) February 13, 2017 The parents of Caleb Schwab, the 10-year-old boy killed in August on the world’s tallest water slide at Schlitterbahn Water Park in Kansas City, are speaking out for the first time about their son’s tragic death. “Six went to the park and five came back,” Caleb’s father, Kansas State Rep. Scott Schwab, told Good Morning America on Monday. Scott and Michelle Schwab, who took their four sons to the water park, recalled the moments before Caleb and his 12-year-old brother Nathan went up to the top of the 170-foot slide. “Before they took off I said, ‘Brothers stick together’ and he said, ‘I know, dad,’ ” Scott said. Nathan went down the slide — called Verrückt (German for “crazy” or “insane”) — first and waited for Caleb at the bottom. “ was screaming, ‘He flew from Verrückt, he flew Verrückt,’ ” Caleb’s mother Michelle Schwab said. Michelle said she ran to the scene, but a man wouldn’t let her get any closer. “He just kept saying, ‘No, trust me, you don’t want to go any further,’ ” she said. Caleb was found dead at the bottom of the slide in the pool and police confirmed to PEOPLE that he had been decapitated. Scott said he had to hear the exact words himself in order to believe it. “I just need to hear you say it. Is my son dead?” he recalled asking someone. “And he said, ‘Yes, your son is dead.’ It was surreal. I don’t even remember driving home.” On Jan. 11, the Schwab family reached a settlement with the Schlitterbahn Water Park in Kansas. “It’s an accident, but there is an accounting because someone was negligent,” he said on GMA. Now, the family is trying to move forward while keeping Caleb’s memory alive. “There are times where you’re just like, ‘I can’t look at this,’ ” Scott said of old videos the family watches of Caleb, “and there are other times when you can’t sleep and you want to look at it.” Michelle added that there’s so much the family misses about Caleb, especially his hugs. “Giving him hugs,” she said, “hearing about his day, watching him play soccer, I mean, so much, so many things.” The Schwabs said they are grateful for the overwhelming messages of support they’ve received from well-wishers around the world during their time of grief. “We have a box of greeting cards from around the world and we just want people to know that we’re thankful and we’re still hurting but we’re going to be okay,” Scott said.
