Bull smashes a man to the ground with a lightning-quick kick to the jaw during Portuguese festival after another reveller prods the animal with a long stick
- A bull smashed its hooves into the face of a reveller at a Portuguese festival
- Another man had poked it with a stick and the animal lashed out
- The 30-year-old was later hospitalised and is in a serious condition in hospital
A half-tonne bull has smashed a man to the ground with a brutal kick to the jaw in a Portuguese festival.
The animal lashed out with its back feet as he approached it from behind to pat it on the backside after it had been let out onto the streets at the annual festival.
Footage showed it smashing its hooves into the reveller’s face as it reacted angrily to being prodded in the back with a long stick by a second man wearing a black and red striped top.
A half-tonne bull has smashed a man to the ground with a brutal kick to the jaw in a Portuguese festival
The bull was standing on one of the rungs of the pen it had been herded into so it could be safely removed from the area.
It happened so quickly many in the group surrounding them took several seconds to realise what had happened including the worker who had poked it with his stick.
Amazingly the 30-year-old struck in the face managed to get to his feet – although local reports said he had begun to feel unwell later and was taken to hospital in Lisbon because of his injuries.
His condition today was thought to be serious although there has been no update in the last 24 hours.
The bull was standing on one of the rungs of the pen it had been herded into so it could be safely removed from the area
The drama happened around 9pm on Monday night in the village of Reguengo a two and a half hour drive east of the Portuguese capital.
Bulls are let loose on the streets and taunted by revellers who try to dodge them as part of an annual festival which takes place there every September.
Local reports said the animal was being removed from the area at the time.
Firefighters are said to have been among the first emergency responders to assist the injured man, thought to have been taken to the nearby Portalegre Hospital before being transferred to a second unidentified hospital in Lisbon.
The annual festivities in Reguengo, which started on Monday, are due to continue until Sunday.
In neighbouring Spain several people have been killed already this year at festivals involving bulls.
Footage showed it smashing its hooves into the reveller’s face as it reacted angrily to being prodded in the back
Amazingly the 30-year-old struck in the face managed to get to his feet – although local reports said he had begun to feel unwell later
Three of the victims died in just 24 hours in the month of July.
On July 20, a 56-year-old man died in hospital after being rushed to intensive care with head and gore injuries a week earlier at an event in Picassent near the east coast city of Valencia.
The local town hall said at the time it had decreed a day of mourning after learning of the man’s death.
The day earlier, Josep Antoni Garcia Arnau, 50, died at another Valencia hospital from injuries he suffered after being up-ended by a bull at a festival in Meliana, a 40-minute drive north of Picassent.
He was diagnosed with seven broken ribs and one of the blows he suffered is said to have penetrated one of his lungs and caused a build-up of blood which eventually claimed his life.
Around the same time it was confirmed a Frenchman aged 64 had died in hospital nine days after being gored during an annual festival in Pedreguer on the Costa Blanca a half-hour drive from Moraira.
All three men had been taking part in annual events known locally as Bous Al Carrer, which literally means Bulls on the Street.