6 dead, 200 injured in Colombia after stadium stands collapse during bullfight

Collapsed stands in El Espinal, Colombia.

(Image credit: Samuel Antonio Galindo Campos/AFP via Getty Images)

published 26 June 2022

At least six people were killed and more than 200 injured on Sunday when several stands collapsed at a venue holding a bullfight in El Espinal, Colombia.

El Espinal is about 100 miles southwest of the capital Bogota. The Tolima Civil Defense told ABC News that 10 of the people injured are in serious condition, and local media reports a child is among the dead. It's not yet clear why the stands collapsed, and an investigation is underway.

Colombia's president-elect, Gustavo Petro, ended bullfighting in Bogota when he served as the city's mayor, and has called for amateur bullfights to be banned in the country, France 24 reports. Jose Ricardo Orozco, the governor of Tolima, told reporters his local government will now move to ban bullfighting, saying it is dangerous and promotes animal abuse.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.