Irish teen dies after bull attack at festival

An Irish teenager has died after being charged by a young bull during an summer festival in Spain.

Diego Page, 16, was rushed to hospital with severe chest injuries after the animal smashed him into a fence surrounding the bullring.

He died in hospital in the northern Spanish city of Huesca around 11am on Wednesday, around an hour and a half after being admitted.

Friends and relatives were comforting each other after the tragedy. Town hall officials in Huesca cancelled the last day of the festival and ordered two days of mourning.

Diego, who is believed to have been born in Ireland, moved in 2004 to the village of Bolea, near Huesca, with his father Tony, mother Mariana and brothers Jake, 21 and Pablo, 18.

A restaurant his mother ran with Diego’s uncle Pedro was closed as the family made funeral arrangements.

Bibi Sanvicente, deputy mayoress of Bolea, added: “This is a small village with just over 500 inhabitants. The village is wracked with pain, bitterness and impotence over Diego’s death.

“His family moved here in 2004 from Ireland, but it’s as if they’d been here their whole life.”

Diego died during Huesca’s main annual festivity, the San Lorenzo Fiesta, which is from Aug 9 to 15. Festival-goers dodge young bulls let loose in the city’s bullring every morning as part of the festivities.

Witnesses told yesterday how he was smashed against a fence around the bullring after being charged by the animal from behind.

He is understood to have gone into cardiac arrest as he was attended in a first aid centre. Paramedics tried to revive him at the scene before rushing him to the San Jorge Hospital in Huesca.

A postmortem was due to take place yesterday and the results released to a local court tasked with probing Diego’s death.

More than 20 people have been injured by heifers and bulls in festivals around the Aragon region in the last 15 years.