The incident happened in the town of Es Migjorn Gran in Menorca during the festival of Sant Cristofol, where it is traditional for crowds to raise their hands up to the horses
A tourist had her finger ripped off by a horse during an annual fiesta in Spain in a horrific accident.
The woman, 27, was on holiday in Menorca when she joined part of a crowd during the Sant Cristofol festivities on Sunday in the Balearic Islands. Traditionally, people raise their arms when the horses go through the town of Es Migjorn Gran.
However, when the victim did so she was then bitten by a passing horse, which ended up severing her finger. It comes after a doctor was decapitated by lift in a hospital accident as colleague watched in horror.
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The tourist was rushed to Mateu Orfila Hospital amid chaotic chaotic scenes and remains there, the clinic confirmed. The incident happened when the second-to-last “caixer” – or parade – was crossing the town’s main square shortly before the end of the festivities.
At that moment, one of the 34 participating horses reared up on its front legs to perform the traditional “bot,” one of the most iconic scenes of these patron saint festivities. According to witnesses, the horse reacted in the midst of the crowd as the attendees cheered it on by raising their arms.
It was then that the animal bit the tourist’s hand. The young woman was immediately treated by emergency services and taken to hospital for surgery. Her nationality has not yet been released.
Menorca, the second largest island of the Balearics, is a hugely popular tourist destination and sees around 1.5 million visitors each year.
However, the islands’ government earlier this year called time on using social media influencers to promote their idyllic locations after a beautiful beach became overwhelmed by crowds of tourists.
Originally, the Balearic government had pinned its hopes on influencers – with their hundreds of thousands of followers – to alleviate the strain on popular tourist haunts by drawing visitors to more obscure locales.
But this strategy spectacularly backfired, leading to an influx of tourists at remote and environmentally delicate sites, all clamouring to take selfies, share them online, and then depart, leaving behind a trail of damage and congestion.
“It’s had the completely opposite effect to what was intended and runs contrary to government policy on containing tourism,” conceded a spokesperson for the Balearic tourism department said in May.
One example of the negative impact is Caló des Moro, a small cove in Majorca that can accommodate around 100 people. Following an influencer’s promotion of the spot, it experienced a deluge of thousands of tourists each day, severely taxing the fragile ecosystem.
In June last year, María Pons, the local mayor, disclosed that the cove was being overwhelmed by up to 4,000 individuals and 1,200 vehicles every day.
As a result of these issues, the local authorities have now scrubbed all images of Caló des Moro from their official website. In Ibiza, the iconic viewpoint at Es Vedrà is now off-limits after locals complained about overcrowding and excessive littering.