Three people die during bull runs in Spain

Three men have died this week after suffering severe injuries during bull runs in eastern Spain, according to emergency services.

Two men – aged 50 and 46 – died after being violently struck by bulls on Tuesday at a bull run held in a suburb of the eastern port city of Valencia, a local emergency services spokesman said.

A French tourist in his 60s who had been in intensive care since he was gored by a bull in a village near Alicante on July 8 died on Monday, the spokesman added.

Bull-running festivals, where groups of people run in front of one or more half-tonne fighting bulls, are a longstanding Spanish tradition with many towns holding such events each year.

The most famous is held in the northern city of Pamplona in July.

The week-long San Fermin festival sees hundreds of daredevils race every morning with six fighting bulls along an 850-metre (2,800-foot) course from a holding pen to Pamplona’s bullring. Injuries are common.

Five people were killed at the festival this year which ended on July 14. Sixteen people have died at Pamplona’s bull runs since 1911.

In 2015, two United States citizens and a Briton were gored and eight others injured during a bull run of the San Fermin festival.