A 64-year-old woman visiting family from Catalonia was fatally gored when she stepped outside the safety barriers and ran towards charging bulls during a traditional encierro in Ayna, Albacete.
The tragedy unfolded shortly before 11 am on Saturday, 5 September 2026, during the first bull run of the tiny mountain village’s patron saint festivities. Ayna, home to fewer than 600 people in the Sierra del Segura, had packed its steep, sun-baked streets for the event.
According to mayor Juan Ángel Martínez, the victim was standing near the barriers in the stretch known as Las Cuevas when panic set in. Instead of staying behind the wooden talanqueras or running with the herd, she moved into the path of the animals. One bull struck her, threw her to the ground, and gored her.
Emergency services received the 112 call at 10.55 am. Medics already stationed for the festival treated her on the spot and a medical helicopter was scrambled. She died while being moved to the helipad.
A man of about 60 was also injured by a horn in a different part of the same run and taken to hospital in Albacete.
Videos circulating on social media show the narrow hillside road, spectators pressed against railings, and bulls thundering past stone houses as people scatter. The footage captured the chaotic moment the animals reached the barriers where the woman had been standing.
The victim had travelled from Catalonia to stay with relatives in a nearby hamlet and was enjoying the local fiestas. Officials said she was not a regular runner.
The town hall immediately cancelled the rest of Saturday’s celebrations. The patronal festival in honour of the Virgen de lo Alto had only just begun and was due to continue until Tuesday.
Encierros, the Spanish tradition of running ahead of fighting bulls or steers through village streets, remain a fixture of summer fiestas across Spain. Supporters call them heritage and adrenaline. Critics point to a grim annual toll of gorings, tramplings and deaths, often involving spectators who leave the designated safe zones.
In Ayna, the route winds through a dramatic gorge setting, with crowds lining walls and fences above the road. Safety barriers were in place. The mayor said the woman had been outside them when the charge began.
The incident has again thrown Spain’s love of bull spectacle into sharp relief: a family holiday, a village party, a few seconds of terror, and a life ended on a country lane as the herd thundered on.
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