A young Spanish bullfighter is in a “very serious” condition after being savagely gored by a bull during a contest in Madrid, suffering three deep horn wounds to his thigh including one that severed his femoral artery.
The attack took place at the Moralzarzal bullring near Madrid on Saturday, where horrified onlookers screamed as they watched the bull toss the matador, named Tomás, into the air with its horns before charging into him as he lay bleeding on the ground. Footage shows his body thrown through the air before being attacked again by the animal, its horns smeared with blood. Fellow matadors swarmed the bull in an attempt to distract it away from him, with one eventually pulling the animal away by its tail as the 24-year-old collapsed helpless on the sand.
Tomás had already been injured earlier in the contest before suffering the more severe second goring that left him hospitalised. He sustained three deep horn wounds to his left thigh, one of which struck bone at a depth of 9.8 inches. A second wound, measuring 7.9 inches deep, severed more than two inches of his femoral artery, while a third tore 5.9 inches through multiple muscles. He also suffered facial lacerations and multiple internal bleeds. Doctors have described his condition as “very serious” following extreme blood loss.
The injury occurred during the Copa Chenel, an international bullfighting competition, and follows a separate serious incident during the contest’s qualifying rounds in May, when matador Albert Duran, 36, was gored in the groin at a bullring in Valdemoro. Footage from that incident showed the bull rearing its head upward and slamming its horns into Duran, launching him into the air as crowds screamed in horror, with Duran thrust upwards repeatedly before he managed to stagger away from the animal. He was rushed to hospital, where surgeons performed emergency surgery on severe injuries to his testicles, and was placed in intensive care.
