Eight teenagers rescued from stalled fairground ride in Villanova Canavese after power failure leaves some upside down at 30 metres

What happened

On Saturday evening, 20 June, the Booster ride at the Villexpo fair in Villanova Canavese suddenly halted during operation, leaving eight teenagers suspended in mid-air. Four of them were stuck in the lower capsules, while the other four were left hanging upside down at a height of about 30 metres. The malfunction occurred around 22:00, when the festival was crowded with hundreds of visitors. The ride, a large rotating structure with two metal arms and capsules that perform full 360‑degree rotations, stopped after a temporary power interruption blew a fuse.

“It was a rare technical inconvenience.”

The rescue operation

Firefighters dispatched four teams to the scene and worked to free the riders from the capsules. They gradually lowered all eight to the ground in a coordinated operation. Paramedics from the local 118 emergency service assessed each passenger, concentrating on those who had been inverted for the longest period. According to one report, a parent became agitated and briefly disrupted the rescue effort, but the operation was otherwise swift and orderly. No structural damage to the attraction was reported.

Cause and aftermath

The ride’s operators attributed the stoppage to a temporary loss of electric power that damaged a fuse. The exact sequence that led to the fuse failure was not specified, but management described it as an uncommon technical fault. Medical checks confirmed that none of the teenagers had sustained any injuries, and none required hospital treatment. The incident closed without further consequence for the festival or the families involved.