France-A 36-year-old matador has been killed by a bull in France after tripping on his cape and being impaled by a horn.
Prize bullfighter Ivan Fandino who had been a professional for 12 years, died in hospital after suffering from a punctured lung yesterday.
The Spaniard, from the Basque region, leaves behind a wife and daughter after his death in the bullring at Mont-de-Marsan, France.
Horrified spectators looked on as Fandino tripped and was gored by the bull, which also launched him into the air.
He was using his cape in a turn to engage and distract the specially-bred fighting bull, and the animal then pierced the matador's side with one of his horns.
His wounds were so serious, it is understood his heart stopped while he was in an ambulance.
Tributes are flooding in on the social network sites, with rancher Victorino Martin tweeting: 'Our friend and great bullfighter Ivan Fandino dies in France. A great loss for the world of bullfighting. We are dismayed.'
Fandino came from Orduna in Bizkaia. He wanted to become a bullfighter from the age of 14, even though it was not a family tradition, and made his debut in 2005.
He is the second Spanish bullfighter to die in the ring in the past year. Victor Barrio was killed after being gored by a bull in front of spectators last July, the first time since the early 1990s a professional matador had died in the ring in Spain.
Barrio, who was 29, was killed in the bullring at Teruel in the north of Spain. He was the first Spanish matador to die in the arena since 1992.
Fandino had been invited to take part in the 18th celebration of the San Isidro Fair. Commenting on Fandino's death, the Humane Society International said it was a 'tragedy'.
But it added: 'For the 1,000 bulls brutally killed in French bullfights every year, every single fight is a tragedy in which they have no chance of escaping a protracted and painful death.
'Bloodsports like this should be consigned to the history books, no-one should lose their life for entertainment, human or animal.' The sport is a protected tradition in parts of southern France.
