18-year-old dies after fall from pendulum ride at Cabo San Lucas festival

The marina in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, photographed in 2024; this is a location image, not a picture of the fairground or the incident. — Alexis Doine / Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0)

Summary

An 18-year-old died after falling from a moving fairground ride on October 20 during Cabo San Lucas's traditional festival.
The ride was suspended, and municipal officials said other attractions would undergo a preventive review.
Baja California Sur prosecutors are investigating; no official finding has established why the rider fell.

What happened at the festival

An 18-year-old woman died after falling from a mechanical ride during the Traditional Festival of Cabo San Lucas in Mexico's Baja California Sur state on Tuesday, October 20. The Los Cabos municipal government confirmed the death the following day, saying the young woman had been injured in the fairground attractions area and had been taken for medical attention. Local reporting identified the attraction as a pendulum-style ride known as El Péndulo. The victim is not named here out of respect for her family's privacy.^{[1] [3] [4]}

Emergency personnel treated the rider at the scene, and Mexican Red Cross paramedics transported her to a hospital near the fairground, according to a report by Milenio that cited the municipal civil-protection directorate. She died after the transfer, the municipality said. The accident happened on the final night of the festival, which ran from October 16 to 20. Officials have not released a definitive technical account of the fall or the injuries that caused her death.^{[1] [3]}

The ride is shut as investigators examine the cause

Municipal civil-protection authorities secured and suspended the ride after the incident and announced a broader review of the other attractions, including their safety measures and operators' documentation, Milenio reported. The state attorney general's office, known as the PGJE, opened an investigation. According to local outlet Tribuna de México, investigators secured the ride and accident area as a precaution, collected evidence and assigned specialists in architecture, engineering and safety to examine how the attraction was operating and whether required protocols were met.^{[3] [4]}

Those examinations matter because the cause has not been established. Some accounts of videos circulating online suggest a restraint may have risen before the fall, but the images are not an official mechanical assessment. Local outlet Diario Humano reported on October 21 that no expert finding had determined whether there was a mechanical fault, a restraint problem, an operating error or another cause. Authorities have not announced a conclusion assigning blame; the prosecutor's inquiry is intended to establish both the sequence of events and any legal responsibility.^{[4] [5]}

Municipality changes civil-protection leadership

The Los Cabos government subsequently named Diego Camacho Hale acting head of the municipal Civil Protection and Risk Management Directorate. In its statement, the municipality said the administrative change was meant to give prosecutors unobstructed access to the directorate's records and facilitate the delivery of requested information. It said former director Francisco Cota Márquez remained available to cooperate. The statement did not accuse him of wrongdoing or announce a disciplinary finding.^{[2] [5]}

Before the festival began, a municipal update had described a field visit to the Expoferia on October 16 that included mechanical rides, alongside the concert area and commercial stalls. That notice was focused on conditions following heavy rain and said no major weather-related damage had been found; it did not publish a ride-by-ride engineering certification. What the organizers and operators submitted, what inspections specifically covered, and whether any defect existed remain questions for the investigation. The municipality has pledged cooperation and support for the family as the findings are awaited.^{[1] [2] [5] [6]}

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