Families had gathered for one last night of music and fairground rides when an attraction’s door opened while its tilted platform was still spinning. Within minutes, the fair was filled with ambulances and two girls were on their way to hospital with fractures.

The ride door accidentally opened and sent the children flying

Nine people were injured, eight of them minors, in the accident at Tona’s Festa Major in Barcelona province shortly before midnight on Tuesday August 4. The attraction, identified locally as Disco Show, is one of the classic rides that can usually be found in a Spanish feria: an inclined platform that spins relatively fast, forward and backwards, to music. For reasons that have not yet been established, one of its doors opened while the ride was in motion and several young riders were reportedly thrown from it.

The accident happened on the fifth and final night of the town’s summer fair, which had opened on Friday July 31. Tuesday’s rides were scheduled to keep operating until 1am, but the fair instead closed under the lights of emergency vehicles. The ride in question was sealed so that technical experts could examine it, and the remaining attractions at the fairground, beside Tona’s La Canal venue, were also closed after the accident.

Two unlucky girls suffered fractures

Two girls aged 12 and 14 suffered fractures and were taken to Hospital de Vic. Updated information from municipal sources described their condition as less serious and said their lives were not in danger. Three other young people with minor injuries were also taken to the hospital. Four further patients, including the only adult among those injured, were treated at the scene for minor contusions.

Several ambulances from Cataluña’s Medical Emergency System (SEM) attended, together with three fire service units and patrols from the Mossos d’Esquadra regional police and Tona’s local police. Tona Town Council sent its support to those affected and their families and wished them a swift recovery.

Tona required engineering checks before the fair opened

Official council documents show that rides at the 2026 Festa Major were subject to several layers of paperwork and technical checks. Operators had to submit proof of civil liability insurance and an annual review certificate issued by a registered industrial engineer. Once a ride had been installed in Tona, a further engineer’s certificate was required to confirm its safety and structural soundness. The council’s rules also required every attraction to pass a technical inspection covering the correct assembly and operation of its electrical, mechanical and other systems. The resulting certificate had to be filed before 1pm on July 31, and the rules stated that no ride could begin operating without it and the other required documents.

The council has not publicly released the Disco Show’s inspection file or identified any problem with its permissions or certificates.

Why the next feria ride could feel different

Fairground rides are a familiar part of summer fiestas across Spain, particularly for children and teenagers. After Tona, some families may find themselves looking more closely at the safety bar or closed door before a ride begins.

Nothing reported so far suggests a wider problem at Spain’s fairgrounds, and one unexplained failure shouldn’t be treated as evidence that every ride elsewhere is unsafe. This should offer some reassurance, but it does not lessen what happened in Tona. A final night of lights, music and family fun ended with nine people injured, two girls in hospital with fractures and families waiting to understand how the door opened.

Officers watched an upmarket home for days in Sitges while the wanted 21-year-old inside never ventured beyond its surrounding garden. Then, amid concerns that guns or explosives could be inside, Spanish police entered. 

The garden was as far as the fugitive would go 

The search began in June 2025 through the European Network of Fugitive Active Search Teams (ENFAST), which allows specialist police units to exchange information and pursue wanted people across borders. After months of cooperation between Sweden and Spain, investigators traced the fugitive to Sitges, the affluent seaside town approximately 35 kilometres south-west of Barcelona. According to Spain’s Ministry of the Interior, he was living in a house in what police described as an upmarket neighbourhood. Officers placed the property under surveillance for several days and were able to view the suspect in the garden, but police said he did not venture beyond the grounds, apparently aware that Swedish authorities were pursuing him.

Investigators believed there was a possibility of finding firearms or explosives inside. Therefore entry and a search of the property were consequently authorised under a European Investigation Order, and officers arrested the man during the early hours of Saturday August 1. Authorities have not said whether any weapons or explosives were ultimately recovered from the house.

🚩 Detenido en #Sitges uno de los fugitivos más buscados de #Suecia

🔹 Presuntamente participó en 20 hechos criminales de extrema violencia para desestabilizar a grupos criminales rivales

🔹 Adiestraba a jóvenes reclutados para ejecutar ataques, entrenándolos en el uso de armas… pic.twitter.com/6mwVcQUrzj

— Policía Nacional (@policia) August 3, 2026

Why the Swedish media name Emin Muqa Kulic

Neither the Spanish nor Swedish authorities named the arrested man in their initial official statements. However, Swedish broadcasters SVT and TV4 have identified him as Emin Muqa Kulic, aged 21. Kulic had also appeared on the Europol-hosted EU Most Wanted website, where he was publicly listed as wanted by Sweden for attempted murder.

SVT describes Kulic as a senior figure in Stockholm’s Dalen network. The broadcaster says police have previously portrayed him as the alleged right-hand man of Mikael “Greken” Tenezos, another suspected senior network figure who was arrested in Mexico in October 2025.

The Swedish Prosecution Authority confirmed that the arrested 21-year-old had been detained in absentia since May 2025 on suspicion of offences including complicity in murder and attempted murder. The suspected crimes were committed during 2024, and several investigations remain under way. “We believe the man has been one of those directing young people to commit serious violent crimes in Sweden,” lead prosecutor Ida Arnell said in the official statement. 

Police allege young recruits were given weapons and explosives

Spanish investigators place the suspect’s alleged activities within a much broader campaign of violence. They claim he participated in approximately 20 extremely violent criminal incidents during 2024, including attacks in which members of rival criminal groups were killed. The alleged purpose was to destabilise competing groups and provoke further conflicts between them. According to the Spanish account, those involved used military-style weapons, long and short firearms and explosives. Investigators also accuse the suspect of training young people recruited to carry out organised attacks. Police allege that he instructed them in the use of firearms and explosives and supplied the equipment himself.

The figure of 20 incidents comes from Spanish police and is broader than the suspected offences specified publicly by Swedish prosecutors. There are not yet 20 proven crimes or convictions against Kulic.

Sweden’s National Council for Crime Prevention has documented how recruitment into criminal networks can begin at an early age, and its wider research found that recruiters were commonly aged between 15 and 20, while those targeted were often between 12 and 15. In some cases, recruitment developed in less than a day.

The villa’s reported connection to Jonas Falk

One of the most unusual parts of the arrest concerns the house itself. SVT reports, citing its own sources, that the Sitges property had previously been occupied by Jonas Falk, one of Sweden’s most widely known convicted criminals. Kulic allegedly remained there for an extended period after Falk was arrested. Spanish police, however, have not confirmed that account in full. Their statement says only that the fugitive was “closely linked” to the person known as the “Pablo Escobar of Sweden”. It does not yet identify Falk or establish who legally owned or rented the property.

The claimed connection emerged just days after Stockholm District Court convicted Falk of four exceptionally serious narcotics offences. On July 28, he received a sentence of nine years and two months over the handling of approximately 2.3 tonnes of cocaine between South America and Europe. His lawyer has said the conviction will be appealed.

Spain must now decide on Sweden’s request

Spain has repeatedly surfaced in Sweden’s hunt for wanted suspects. Swedish Police figures show that 31 Swedish fugitives had been arrested in Spain by July 9 this year. 

Across all countries, 165 people had been arrested on Swedish alerts during the same period, compared with 139 a year earlier. Swedish prosecutors have now issued a European Arrest Warrant requesting Kulic’s surrender. This is a judicial procedure between European Union countries, rather than a conventional diplomatic extradition process. A surrender decision should normally be reached within ten days if the arrested person consents or within 60 days if the request is contested. No hearing date, decision or confirmed timetable for Kulic’s transfer to Sweden has yet been announced.