Indian teen dies after Central Park horse carriage crash

An 18-year-old tourist from India died after a horse-drawn carriage crash in Central Park, turning a family celebration into a tragedy and putting fresh pressure on one of the park’s oldest attractions. Romanch Mahajan was on the third day of his first trip to New York City when the carriage tipped over near Tavern on the Green on West 67th Street on Wednesday, June 17, 2026.

Police said the horse bolted away from its driver, collided with another carriage and sent the vehicle overturning. Romanch was thrown onto the pavement and rushed to NewYork-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center in critical condition before he died from his injuries. The other family members in the carriage, including his parents Deepak and Priya Mahajan and his younger brother, suffered only minor injuries.

The family had traveled to the United States to celebrate Romanch’s high school graduation. Deepak Mahajan told NBC News that the crash came with no warning and said, “We never knew that this was the last day of his life.” He also told The New York Times that Romanch jumped to help his mother after she fell from the carriage, a detail that deepens the sense that the teenager was trying to protect his family in the moments before he died.

The question now is whether this death was preventable, or at least whether New York’s carriage routes are safeguarded tightly enough to keep a routine tourist ride from becoming fatal. Transport Workers Union Local 100 said it supported a full investigation and suspended carriage rides while it reviewed safety protocols. The union said the horse had been in the park for only six weeks. ABC News reported that the suspension would last at least until Tuesday, while the City Council was considering a bill that would permanently ban Central Park horse-drawn carriage rides.

The crash landed just over a week after another Central Park carriage horse, Deniz, collapsed and died after eating a toxic plant. Together, the two incidents have sharpened scrutiny of the industry and the city’s oversight of a business that operates on roads lined with tourists, pedestrians and animals moving through one of Manhattan’s most visited parks. The Central Park Conservancy said it was devastated by Romanch Mahajan’s death, but the broader test now is whether the city can prevent the next ride from ending the same way.