This is the astonishing moment a bull rider is seriously injured after being thrown into the air and repeatedly gored by a bull as he lies helpless on the ground at a festival on the Costa Blanca.
Gruesome footage shows the animal striking the young animal’s right leg with its horn and bending the leg back and forth at the knees as the animal tries to get behind a fence after falling on its head.
Spectators tried to distract the bull by pulling its tail and shouting – although one of them thought it would be a good idea to try to break the animal’s legs by repeatedly kicking them. The powerfully built bull did not flinch as he was attacked from behind.
Another man then risked upsetting the bull again by kicking it in the butt after it appeared to have calmed down.
The gruesome scenes unfolded yesterday on the first night of the famous fiestas in Calpe, near Benidorm, where bulls were released into the streets in the so-called Bous al Carrer.
The bull rider stood no chance against the huge animal that ran through the streets
In shocking scenes, the man is repeatedly gored by a bull during a Bous al Carrer race
Spectators are shocked as the bull runner is gored in the street during a festival near Benidorm
Some intervened to help the man, but were no match for the bull’s enormous power
The severity of the victim’s injuries has not yet been released, but local reports indicate serious injuries.
He remained in hospital today. His nationality is unknown.
The most famous bull festival is the San Fermin festival in the northern Spanish city of Pamplona, which takes place every year in July.
Every year, dozens of runners, mostly tourists, are injured when they are chased through the streets of the old town.
The Calpe event is popular with British expats and holidaymakers. Bulls are released into the old town as part of festivities that last virtually 24 hours a day.
Bullfighting festivals are still hugely popular in Spain, despite the fact that bullfighting is becoming less popular among the younger generations in the country.
Last September, Jose Antonio Subies, a father of two, died at the age of 61 in a hospital in Valencia after suffering injuries to his liver and one of his lungs during a festival in nearby La Pobla de Fornals.
Mr. Rubies was a senior executive at Pamesa, a company that made ceramic wall and floor tiles.
And last July, the so-called Messi of the Matadors was seriously injured after being knocked off balance by a 1,000-pound bull during an event in Santiago.
Andrés Roca Rey, 26, suffered multiple injuries and bruises all over his body after being impaled. He was immediately taken to hospital on July 25.
The bull charged at the Peruvian, dragged him back to the fences surrounding the stadium and threw him into the air.
He lay slumped against the planks as others jumped in to distract the bull and pull him to safety.
Santander’s Plaza de Toros medical service issued two reports, which noted a “polytrauma to the left knee” and “multiple bruises on the neck, face, right thigh and left knee”.
The animals are often tortured before the race to encourage them to perform a spectacle
With some weighing over 1,000 pounds, the bull continued despite attempts to pull it off
Gruesome scenes showed spectators pulling the bull’s tail as it charged
Between 50 and 100 visitors are injured every year at bull runs alone.
The events also have terrible consequences for the animals involved.
Animal rights organization PETA warns that even in the Running of the Bulls, the bulls are only killed after the ‘show’.
During the San Fermin festival in July, a total of 48 bulls are tortured and killed over the course of a week, they say.
At the beginning of the show, the animals are deliberately panicked by firing a rocket to scare them. Then the spectators shout gestures at the bull to run.
Often the animals fall or collide head first while running at breakneck speed, sustaining horrific injuries.