Laurence Dollimore
A BULL has killed a 74-year-old man and injured multiple others after jumping through a fence during a traditional ‘running of the bulls’ event.
The tragic incident occurred in Pantoja, Toledo, at around 10.34am on Tuesday morning, and resulted in the bull being shot to death by Policia Local officers.
A number of bulls were being run through the town, with fences providing a barrier between them and spectators (part of the route pictured above).
However one of the bulls rammed against a part of the fence and managed to get through the resulting gap.
It was then that the 74-year-old victim, from the nearby town of Illescas, was gored to death.
Video footage shared on X (above) shows the moment the bull charged through the fence and threw a person high into the air with its horns.
The mayor of Pantoja, Julian Torrejon, said a young girl, aged four, had to be treated for scratches, but did not require hospitalisation.
However her grandparents, from ‘a well-known family in the town’, had to be transferred to Toledo Hospital after sustaining injuries.
Torrejon said the town is ‘devastated’ by the ‘accident’, insisting that all security precautions had been taken.
He added: “Everything is in order and we have our insurance and our permits from the Junta and the Provincial Council.
“We had been reviewing the route minutes before and everything was correct.”
According to sources from the 112 Emergency Service of Castilla-La Mancha, among the injured are an 84-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman.
A routine police investigation has been opened.
The bull run was one of many events scheduled for the Patron Saint Festivities in honor of Santa Barbara, which Pantoja celebrates each year from September 20 to 28.
Pantoja has suspended the festivities for today and will this evening decide whether to continue with those scheduled until Saturday.
