Matador, runner killed in Spanish bull festivals

A Spanish professional matador and a man participating in a village bull run were killed in Spain, while another two men were gored at the prominent Paplona festival.

29-year-old professional matador, Victor Barrio was killed when a bull’s horn pierced his chest in front of spectators while competing in a fight in the town of Teruel in the Eastern region of Aragon.

The website of Madrid’s Las Ventas bullring, where Barrio began as an apprentice bullfighter in 2010, confirmed his death, which was aired on television.

He is the first Spanish bullfighter to die in a ring since the turn of the century.

During a bull run through narrow streets in the South-Eastern village of Pedreguer near Valencia, another 28-year-old Spaniard, aiding another runner, was killed as soon as a bull’s horn pierced his lung and heart.

Many of Spain’s towns hold summer festivals involving bulls and several people die each year.

Thousands of travellers from Spain and overseas assist to the nine-day spread San Fermin festival, in which bulls chase red-scarved runners through Pamplona’s cobbled streets.

During Saturday’s run, a 24-year-old Spanish man was gored in the arm, a 33-year-old Japanese man in the chest, while 12 others suffered minor injuries.

A spokesman for the festival said the Japanese man was in a stable condition in hospital.

The four-minute run in Pamplona featured six bulls from the Jose Escolar ranch, one of which caused panic among the runners.

The daily bull run, starting at 8:00am, usually lasts between three and five minutes, and takes place along an 825-metre stretch of narrow streets in Pamplona’s old town.

During the festival, there are eight runs in total.

According to a count on the unofficial San Fermin website, 15 people have died in Pamplona’s event over the past century.

The last death was recorded in 2009.