Woman, 45, gored to death at bull-running festival

She had been watching the young cows being released as a prelude to the bulls being let loose, when one of them knocked her over and gored her in the abdomen.

This sparked severe internal bleeding, which led to her death a few hours later in hospital.

Witnesses say she had been standing on the street before the cow-runs started, and was not able to get behind the barriers in time when they were let loose.

Regional government spokeswoman Noelia Arroyo passed on her condolences to the woman's family, and her well wishes to two other spectators who were seriously injured.

This is the latest in a spate of deaths at bull-runs during the fiestas - a 29-year-old man from Oliva (Valencia) was gored to death at the festival in Pedreguer (Alicante) last week, a year to the day that a French tourist was killed in the same place in front of his son.

And famous bullfighter Víctor Barrio, of the same age, lost his life in the ring in Teruel recently.

Several other spectators at bull-running events have ended up hospitalised, a few in a very serious condition, as a result of being gored, including a high number at the recent Sanfermines fiesta in Pamplona (Navarra).

Photograph: A typical bull-running event at a local fiesta