The bullfights are one of the main events at the Bayonne Festival, which runs for five days and attracts around 1 million people. 

 

But Sunday night's fight took a nasty turn  when one of the bulls managed to leap out of the ring.  

 

The animal succeeded in goring a photographer in the scrotum – puncturing his body all the way to his stomach, reported the Sud Ouest newspaper.

 

It then charged into the president of a local bullfighting association, who was sent to hospital with a fractured leg.

 

However, the bull was unable to do any more damage as it was in a corridor between the ring and the crowd – separated from other members of the public by a tall fence (see tweet below)

 

 

The incident is unlikely to prompt any changes to the tradition of bullfighting in the area, with the local tourism board noting that “Bayonne is proud of this tradition”.

 

Bayonne is the oldest bull-fighting town in France, and boasts the world's oldest written text on the subject dating back to 1289.

 

The festival itself was inspired by the Spanish festival San Fermin, a main feature of which is the running of the bulls in Pamplona. 

 

Bayonne's festival also sees a “bull running”, except with horned cows which don't run through the town but are released on the crowd in front of the Château Neuf. And they've been known to cause damage themselves, as the selfie-taker below can no doubt attest.