Two die in bull run
2004-09-12 22:01
Madrid - Two men were gored to death and 11 were injured in a bull run in the northern Spanish town of Ampuero on Sunday, a spokesperson for the regional government said.
One of the men killed was gored in the jugular vein.
The town of Ampuero was celebrating its annual bull run when a pile-up happened on the way to the bull ring.
Every summer the town holds a festival in which daredevil runners sprint through the streets alongside and in front of fighting bulls, much like the famed San Fermin festival in the northern city of Pamplona.
Fermin Mier Laguillo, a spokesperson for the regional government, blamed the accident on the use of fully grown bulls.
"Normally this run is done with young bulls, but on this occasion fully grown bulls were used with this unfortunate effect," Laguillo said.
"There was a goring in the final stretch of the bull run," Laguillo said.
Raimundo Rabre Hernando, 48, died from a goring in the jugular vein.
Daniel Torres Santiesteban, 47, also suffered goring wounds and died on the operating table of the nearby Laredo hospital.
Nieves Abascal, mayor of Ampuero, called off the annual celebration of the Virgen Nina feast day following the accident.
Bull runs are common during feast days in Spain.
Animals to be used in bull fights in the afternoon are run through towns from holding pens to bullrings.
The most famous bull run takes place in Pamplona, a setting made famous by American writer Ernest Hemmingway in his 1926 novel, "The Sun Also Rises."
- AP