Colombian bullring collapse: Four killed, hundreds injured
At least four people have been killed and hundreds more injured after a ramshackle stand collapsed at a bullfight in El Espinal, Colombia.
Spectators fled in panic as the flimsy wooden framework toppled.
Emergency crews rushed to the scene to try to rescue people trapped beneath the wreckage.
Jose Ricardo Orozco, the local governor, said that two women, a man and a child are known to have died.
In footage broadcast online, a full three-story section of wooden stands filled with spectators can be seen collapsing, throwing dozens of people to the ground.
Another video taken by someone at the scene showed people trying to escape from the stands while a bull continues to roam in the arena.
According to the local authorities’ men, women and children were all injured in the disaster and there are fears the death toll could climb further.
The reasons for the stand’s collapse were unclear.
According to local reports, the bull fled the arena into the streets of Espinal, causing panic in a town of nearly 77,000 people, 64 miles southwest of the capital, Bogotá.
Local authorities appealed for calm, to allow the emergency services to evacuate those who had been injured.
Colombia's outgoing President Ivan Duque expressed his solidarity with the families of those killed and hurt.
"We will request an investigation of the facts about what happened," he said.
The event, which attracted hundreds of people, was part of the San Pedro Festival.
It entailed locals trying their luck in the bullring in so-called "corralejas", in which residents enter the arena to confront the bull.
The event has attracted criticism both for the danger it posed to participants and the cruelty inflicted on the bull.
Mr Orozco said the authorities would consider banning corralejas in future.