Indian tourist dies after Central Park horse carriage accident

An 18-year-old tourist from India died after a horse-drawn carriage in Central Park overturned near Tavern on the Green, turning a family celebration into a fatal crash in one of New York’s most visited public spaces. Romanch Mahajan was on the third day of his first trip to New York City when the carriage accident on West 67th Street left him gravely injured and later dead at NewYork-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center.

The Mahajan family had come to the city to celebrate Romanch’s high school graduation, and one report said he had also just learned he had been accepted to a university in Jaipur. Deepak Mahajan said his son tried to save his mother after she fell from the carriage. “We never knew that this was the last day of his life,” Deepak Mahajan told NBC News.

The crash unfolded around 2:47 p.m. on June 17, when, according to the family and reporting by The New York Times, the carriage driver stepped out to take a photo and the horse bolted away without him. NBC New York reported that the passengers could not slow the driverless ride before it struck another horse-drawn vehicle and overturned near Tavern on the Green. The young man was taken to the hospital and later died that day.

The death has reignited scrutiny of horse-drawn carriage operations in Central Park, where tourists ride past some of the city’s most recognizable landmarks under rules that have long been contested by animal-rights groups and safety critics. New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin and Health Chair Lynn Schulman called the death “horrific and heartbreaking,” and said it came just one week after a horse died in Central Park. Their remarks added fresh pressure to a debate over whether the city can keep allowing carriages in a park that draws millions of visitors each year.

The Transport Workers Union Local 100, which represents carriage drivers and owners, voluntarily suspended Central Park rides and said the pause would last until at least Tuesday while it carried out a safety review and refresher training. NBC New York reported that the union said, “We’ve never had a fatal accident like this before.” The tragedy has strengthened calls to ban horse-drawn carriages in New York City and put renewed attention on Ryder’s Law, the proposal that would phase out the rides entirely.