In a quarter of a second, cries of passion have become cries of dread.
At least four people died and around 30 others were injured on Sunday in El Espinal, a city in central Colombia, after the bleachers of an arena collapsed.
“There are four people dead at the moment.
Two women, an adult man and a minor,” Jose Ricardo Orozco, governor of the department of Tolima, told local media.
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Se desploma parte de la plaza donde se realizan las corraleja fiestas in El Espinal, Tolima.
Los organismos de socorro atienden la emergencia, se desconoce el número de heridos.https://t.co/AMNglsj0Ox pic.twitter.com/iuYfbykbMU
— W Radio Colombia (@WRadioColombia) June 26, 2022
The accident took place in the locality of El Espinal, during a corraleja, a kind of particularly violent popular bullfight practiced in the Caribbean region of Colombia.
As several spectacular videos posted on social networks show, an entire section of the arena suddenly collapsed inwards, throwing several hundred people to the ground and causing a major crowd movement.
The bleachers, built of wood on three floors and crowded with spectators, appear to be of the worst quality.
President Gustavo Petro calls for a ban on corraleja
“More or less 30 people are seriously injured (…) it is a preliminary report, they are still in the process of transferring the injured”, specified the governor of the department.
Hospitals and emergency services are, according to the local press, currently overwhelmed.
Hope that todas las personas afectadas por el derrumbe de la plaza de El Espinal puedan dirty airosas de sus heridas.
Esto ya había sucedido antes en Sincelejo.
Le solicito a las alcaldías no autorizar más espectáculos con la muerte de personas o animaux.
pic.twitter.com/dMAq6uqlKX
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) June 26, 2022
Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who shared images of the accident filmed from the sky, denounced facts that had already occurred in the past, in 1980 in the city of Sincelejo.
500 people were then killed in the collapse of the bleachers of a corraleja arena.
More than 32 years later, he asked mayors to no longer authorize "shows in which people or animals die".