Horror moment raging bull impales runner with horns and tosses him around like ragdoll in front of Spanish festivalgoers
THIS is the horrifying moment a bull unleashes an attack on a helpless festival goer in Spain.
Shocking footage shows the raging 1,500kg beast chasing down the runner before impaling him with its horns and tossing him around like a ragdoll.
Hundreds of onlookers can be seen fleeing the scene as others bravely try to distract the bull into leaving the downed waiter alone.
The brutal attack lasts for almost 25 seconds before the men manage to drag the victim away to safety.
The chaos unfolded as part of a bizarre annual festival in Tordesillas, Valladolid province, where the locals let a bull run through the town.
Footage from this years event on September 17, shows a number of would-be matadors trying to play hide and seek with the animal in a square.
The teasing of the ferocious bull quickly led to it becoming set on an attack.
The victim can be seen hiding behind a stone column as the bull tries to catch him with his horns.
Moments after escaping around the side of tall structure the local waiter slips on the grass before being thrown in the air by the fuming bull.
He is then carried across the square by the powerful fighting beast who has got hold of him by piercing his torso with its sharp horns.
The man, who now appears to be in severe pain, is then repeatedly bowled over and forced to accept the bull’s terrifying attack.
Other festival-goers try to jump to the man’s rescue by desperately waving around jackets and makeshift red matador’s capes to try and draw the animal away.
One can even be seen grabbing at the bull’s tail as another runs around with a giant pole hitting the animal to make it give in.
The bull eventually stops the mauling as it stands in the middle of the square looking on at all the panicking people as the victim is dragged away.
He was taken to hospital with severe puncture wounds to his abdomen, reports local media.
There have been no updates on his condition since.
One other festival-goer was seriously injured in the huge event with another 12 facing minor injuries.
The Toro de la Pena, translated as Bull of the Virgin, is a centuries old tradition in Tordesillas with many seeing it as a chance for young men to test their courage in the face of such a beast.
Just weeks earlier, a man was gored to death during a separate bull-running festival in Spain.
His death, described by the local council as “an unfortunate accident”, was the second to hit the El Casar region in just weeks.
Another man, 51, died at the end of August in a bull run event held in nearby Mesones when he slipped on a fence while trying to escape from the bulls.
Spain's bull running festivals
SPAIN has a long history with bulls with one of the most bizarre and dangerous traditions being bull running festivals.
Every year a huge number of events take place across towns in Spain where locals allow one or a number of the raging animals to chase them through the town.
Often locals will toy with the animals using makeshift capes and hiding in buildings after teasing the beasts.
The largest festival is Pamplona’s traditional Festival of San Fermin in northern Spain where hundreds of people arrive in red and white to survive the bulls.
Often lasting less than five minutes, the runners aim is to make it to a certain point in the town before the bull catches them.
Some use the opportunity as a showcase of their bravery as they challenge each other to get as close as possible to the beasts.
The event’s origins date back to the 16th century.
It was later popularised by Ernest Hemingway after appearing in his 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises.
Many of the events have lead to a number of fatal deaths in the past as well as several injuries each year.
Animal rights activists have labelled the bull runs as “medieval cruelty” in the past as they continue to call for them to be banned.