55-year-old man becomes 6th to die in "bull running" fiesta in 2015

A 55-year-old man in the province of Murcia in south east Spain became the sixth person to die in 2015 as a result of an injury caused by a bull during a traditional "bull running" celebration on Thursday night.

Spanish media reported that the incident happened in the 6,477-person town of Blanca during the town's traditional "San Roque" festivities in which eight fighting bulls are let loose in the locality's old town.

The man was gored in his thigh, but the horn punctured his femoral artery and he then bled to death, despite being evacuated to hospital in the city of Murcia.

He was apparently sitting on a barrier which the bull charged, but was not high enough up to avoid the horns.

Meanwhile, a 28-year-old from the nearby town of Ojos also suffered a serious injury in the festivities when he was gored three times by a bull, but the horn did not puncture any veins or arteries.

Thursday's tragedy brings the number of people who have been killed in similar events in Spain this year up to six, with the most recent a man who was killed in the province of Toledo on Monday as he filmed the bull which killed him on his mobile phone.

Other victims include an 80-year-old man, who died close to Tarragona on June 25 and a 44-year-old French tourist who was killed close to Alicante.

Meanwhile, famous Spanish bullfighter Francisco Rivera is currently in a serious state in hospital in Zaragoza after being badly gored by a bull he was fighting in the city of Huesca. Endit