The collapse of several boxes in a bullring this Sunday in the municipality of El Espinal, in the department of Tolima, in central Colombia, has caused a tragedy with a balance of at least four dead and several dozen injured, of according to preliminary information from local authorities.
The images of the moment in which the flimsy wooden structures crowded with people collapse have given an account of the disaster that occurred during a corraleja, as the popular bullfighting festivals are known in the country.
“I hope that all the people affected by the collapse of the Plaza de El Espinal can get out of their wounds,” the president-elect, Gustavo Petro, who takes office on August 7, wrote on his social networks almost immediately.
“This had already happened before in Sincelejo”, the capital of the department of Sucre, in the Colombian Caribbean, recalled the left-wing leader, who has approached animalist speeches and was very vocal in his disagreement with bullfighting when he was Mayor of Bogota
"I ask the mayors not to authorize more shows with the death of people or animals," said the winner of last Sunday's elections, who accompanied his message with an aerial video of the incident.
I hope that all the people affected by the collapse of the Plaza de El Espinal can come out of their wounds unscathed.
This had already happened before in Sincelejo.
I ask the mayors not to authorize more shows with the death of people or animals.
pic.twitter.com/dMAq6uqlKX
– Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) June 26, 2022
In his message, Petro referred to the tragedy that occurred in the Hermógenes Cumplido bullring in Sincelejo in 1980, when 300 people died when the boxes collapsed and another 500 were injured.
The governor of Tolima, Ricardo Orozco, assured the Blu Radio station that the tragedy has so far left four confirmed deaths: two women, a man and a minor.
"Deeply regretting what happened in our Gilberto Charry bullring, I want to ask the citizens who are in the bullring to please evacuate, the control agencies are already attending to the emergency and the injured have already been evacuated to hospitals," he wrote. in social networks the mayor of El Espinal, Juan Carlos Tamayo.
Subscribe here
to the EL PAÍS newsletter on Colombia and receive all the key information on the country's current affairs.
