Home / Disasters and Accidents / Carnival Ride Malfunction Traps Riders for Over an Hour
Carnival Ride Malfunction Traps Riders for Over an Hour
30 Sep
Summary
- Carnival ride malfunctioned, trapping riders for over an hour
- Ride appeared to stop and jolt unexpectedly, causing a carriage to detach
- No injuries reported, but incident caused panic among attendees
On September 26th, 2025, a terrifying incident occurred at a "Family Fun Day" event at Bishop Conaty -- Our Lady of Loretto High School in the Pico-Union neighborhood of Los Angeles. According to eyewitness accounts, a carnival ride at the event, known as the Zipper, experienced a sudden malfunction that left several riders trapped inside for over an hour before first responders arrived.
Footage captured by a bystander, Sylvester Ramirez, showed the ride abruptly stopping and jolting, causing one of the carriages to snap out of place and collide with another. In a separate video, a detached red carriage can be seen slamming into another carriage as it returned to the loading area, before crashing into the metal queue dividers.
"It didn't feel real at all," Ramirez told ABC 7. "It looked fine to me and then out of nowhere, boom, it hit the other one and went straight to the ground."
Fortunately, despite the terrifying ordeal, no injuries were reported. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which operates the Catholic school system, stated that the carnival ride was "operated by a third party" and that the event was able to proceed as scheduled. The safety and well-being of all attendees, they said, remains their top priority.
The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health's (Cal/OSHA) Amusement Ride and Tramway Unit is currently investigating the incident to determine the cause of the malfunction.
