Forty people, including a 10-year-old, were injured when a bull leapt over barriers at a Spanish bullring and ran amok among spectators.
The child was reported to be in intensive care with abdominal injuries at a Pamplona hospital and three people were in the emergency ward after being trampled when the bull escaped the ring in Tafalla, northern Spain yesterday.
Video footage showed the bull landing in the stands among hundreds of spectators after jumping high enough to clear both the 1.5 metre barriers around the ring and a narrow alley where the bullfighters and officials stand.
Some spectators tried to keep the bull still by holding it by its tail, while others hurled capes and missiles, causing it to charge. The bull was eventually cornered and a rope tied around its neck.
The incident happened during an event in which people try to provoke the bull to charge them.
The bull had already jumped twice into the alley surrounding the ring, police said. After damaging a horn, it was about to be returned to the corral when it escaped.
A 47-year-old man who was gored in the back was among half a dozen spectators taken by ambulance to the hospital at Pamplona, home to the San Fermín bull runs.
The accident comes amid an intense debate in Spain about bullfighting, which was banned by the north-eastern region of Catalonia last month.
About a dozen people have died at bull festivals in the past two years. The latest victim was gored to death earlier this month during a bull-dodging event in Godella, eastern Spain.
