A 25-YEAR-OLD woman has tragically died after a bull ploughed into her during a traditional festival in northern Spain.
Leire San Pedro, from Bilbao, was admitted to hospital in a critical condition after suffering a severe head injury during a bull run in Lodosa, Navarra, on Sunday.
She was standing beneath a staircase when the bull entered the narrow space between the grandstands and wooden barriers, hitting her and sending her flying.
San Pedro was initially treated at a health centre in Lodosa before being rushed by ambulance to the Hospital Universitario de Navarra in nearby Pamplona.
She remained in intensive care with a serious traumatic brain injury before dying on Wednesday.
The woman was a regular at the event and a member of Peña Lodosa por el Toro, a local group dedicated to the tradition.
Lodosa town hall has declared two days of official mourning, with flags flying at half-mast.
The municipality said it was experiencing a ‘sad and difficult day’ and offered its condolences to the woman’s family and friends.
The event, known as a toro con soga, sees a bull released onto the streets with a rope attached to its horns, allowing handlers to control its movements.
It takes place on weekends in Lodosa from September until October 12 as part of the town’s traditional festivities.
The death is the sixth recorded in Spain this year in bull-related festivities or events, according to a review of reported fatalities.
The first came in February, when a 65-year-old man was killed by a horn wound to the chest during a night-time encierro – a traditional bull run – at the Carnaval del Toro in Ciudad Rodrigo, Salamanca.
In April, retired matador Ricardo Ortiz, 52, died after being struck by a bull while working in the corrals at Malaga’s La Malagueta bullring.
Later the same month, 33-year-old bull breeder Santiago Barrero San Roman was fatally gored during the toros ensogados – bull-running events in which the animals are controlled with ropes – in Beas de Segura, Jaen.
He suffered multiple wounds to his abdomen, groin and chest.
In August, 21-year-old Joan Porcar died after being struck by a cow during bous al carrer – street bull-running events held in parts of eastern Spain – in Tirig, Castellon.
He suffered a severe head injury after trying to move between barriers and later died in hospital.
And in September, a 64-year-old woman died after being gored during an encierro, or bull run, in Ayna, Albacete.
She was outside the protective barriers when a bull charged and died while being taken to a medical helicopter.
Click here to read more Northern Spain News from The Olive Press.
