RYE, N.Y. (AP) – An investigation into the death of a 7-year-old boy on an amusement park boat ride determined the child slipped through a 14-inch-wide gap in the ride’s floor and became wedged under its conveyor belts.

The state-ordered investigation also found that two of the four operators assigned to the Ye Old Mill boat-in-the-dark ride at Playland Amusement Park were not there when the boy was getting on the ride earlier this month.

The findings issued Wednesday did not say whether the gap or the absence of the two attendants were factors in the death of Jon Kely Cassara of Norwalk, Conn.

The ride has been closed since the boy’s death, and investigators have ordered the gap sealed. State Labor Department spokesman Robert Lillpopp said the investigation into the child’s death was continuing.

“Although the items they issued to us are technically called violations, they in no way indicate there was anything wrong with the ride or that we were doing anything improperly at the ride,” said Joseph Montalto, the park’s director.

In 2004, a 7-year-old girl died after falling from the park’s spinning Mind Scrambler ride. Investigators concluded the girl had wriggled free of a restraining bar, knelt on the ride’s seat and fell soon after it started.

Playland, a National Historic Landmark, opened in 1928. The park has more than 50 rides, a pool and a beach on Long Island Sound. It has more than a million visitors a year.

On the Net:

Playland: http://www.ryeplayland.org