Two people have been killed and another 11 injured at Mexico’s version of Pamplona’s famous Running of the Bulls festival.
Horrific images captured in the state of Tlaxcala, about 160 kilometers east of Mexico City showed people killed and seriously injured during the Huamantlada Festival, believed to be the largest bull running event in the world.
The deaths were the first in eight years at the festival, which has been taking place in the city of Huamantla for 72 years. As part of this year’s event, 21 fighting bulls were released.
One survivor of the rampaging animals was a woman being thrown into the air by one of the half-ton animals running loose on the street.
Footage showed her being horned in the face and at the mercy of the bull.
She was tossed around by the animal as several people tried to lure it away.
She got some rest and ran away in fright. But as she ran back to safety, blood was seen streaming down her face.
Others weren’t as lucky as she was. Juan Manuel Filomeno Herrera, from Huamantla, died Saturday at the age of 29.
Gruesome footage captured in the state of Tlaxcala, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) east of Mexico City, shows people killed and seriously injured during the Huamantla festival
55-year-old José Andrés Hernández (photo) was hit in the butt by a bull at the festival
It is said that he was pierced after he lost his balance and fell to the ground.
He reportedly suffered a traumatic brain injury, as well as a traumatic chest injury.
And yesterday the number of fatalities rose to two after a second man was confirmed to have died in hospital.
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Another clip showed a man, identified in local media as 55-year-old José Andrés Hernández, being gored in the buttocks by a bull.
He reportedly traveled to Huamantlada on Saturday to attend the bull running. After climbing over a fence, he suddenly became the bull’s target.
It knocked him to the ground and left him in a daze. Although one man tried to distract the bull, it turned its head back toward Mr. Hernández and charged him again, picking him up by his horns and throwing him to the ground.
Unconscious, he was sent to High Specialty Hospital in Ixtapaluca. Local media reported that he is now in stable condition after suffering a head wound and a leg wound.
After the bull’s attack, blood poured down her face
One survivor of the rampaging animals was a woman who was thrown into the air by one of the half-ton animals released into the street.
As part of this year’s event, 21 fighting bulls were released onto the streets of the city
The first Huamantlada event took place in 1954 and they have become more and more popular every year since.
It was based on the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, and was initially called the ‘Pamplonana’.
The first event saw seven bulls run through the city streets, a number that has grown to 25 in recent years.
The Huamantlada is believed to be even more dangerous than the running of the bulls in Pamplona because the animals are released in multiple directions in Mexico.
Even the best bullfighters suffer serious injuries. One of them last week Spain’s best matadors were hit through the testicle for shocked spectators at a bullfight.
Footage shows the massive animal tossing David Fandila onto its horns and sending him into a somersault before being lured away by another matador.
The crowd outside the Baeza arena in Jaén can be heard gasping as the injured matador looked at his groin and assessed the damage.
Mr Fandila’s colleagues came to his aid, with some using capes to protect his privacy while others inspected his wound.
The matador then grabbed the area as he limped out of the ring, supported by a fellow bullfighter.
The incident occurred when the Granada-born matador was completing a series of steps when the animal caught him in the groin area.
Mr Fandila was treated in the infirmary of the Baeza arena for a ‘bull horn wound in the scrotum with removal of the right testicle’.
