Bullfighting collapses in Colombia, causing deaths and injuries

Snapshots of the breakup quickly went viral on social media. Dozens of people were shown teasing and playing with a wounded bull during a popular event known as the Coralega. suddenly, Three levels of terraces give way, Hundreds of men, women and children are trapped under it. While the people were screaming, some jumped out of their seats and rushed to help, trying to clear wood and other debris aside.

Hector Ortiz, 64, could not believe the scene. “That balcony is about to fall!” shouted a woman next to him. And the He watched eight sections begin to fall apart one by one, like dominoes.

“After the first porch collapsed, I pulled the next porch, and so on,” Ortiz told The Washington Post. It was the gate the bulls were passing through that stopped the collapse. Otherwise, we will be talking about a much greater tragedy.”

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Each year, the mayor’s office and private parties at El Espinal organize events to celebrate Saint Peter’s Day on June 29. A bullring was erected for the spectacle that arose on the Caribbean coast when Colombia was a Spanish colony. Unlike traditional Spanish bullfighting, bulls are not usually killed in CorralegaAnd the Spectators are invited to run while the animal is still in the ring.

In cities like El Espinal, the event has developed into a popular show.

The bullring was built from gadua bamboo, and the multiple levels were filled with spectators. “The structure of the gadua bamboo is highly unstable,” said Luis Fernando Velez, head of the regional civil defense agency. “The organizers should have expected that to happen.”

Velez said that 50 volunteers from the Civil Defense are working to transfer the most seriously injured out of the 322 injured spectators from the bullring to the town’s only hospital. He also helped firefighters and police. The local health system sent out a ‘red alert’ to the community.

Colombian President Ivan Duque expressed on Twitter his concern about the victims and called for a speedy investigation.

Among the dead was a 14-month-old baby. More than two dozen children were injured, and others went missing, Velez said, having been by their parents’ side in the bullring when the structure collapsed. Mayor Juan Carlos Tamayo Salas said the eight stands held an estimated 800 people.

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Similar incident noted Coralegas Disaster in the Caribbean town of Sensiligo. More than 500 people were killed and more than 2,000 injured in 1980 when temporary stands collapsed there.

“This has already happened before in Sensiligo,” President-elect Gustavo Petro tweeted, who will take office in August. “I am asking the local authorities to refrain from allowing more spectacles as people or animals die.”

Petro sparked outrage as mayor of Bogota when he banned bullfighting. On Sunday he seemed ready to fight the same battle nationwide.

After witnessing the disaster Sunday, Ortiz said: “I think this is the end of the Coralega in Espinal”.