When the raging bull escaped from the ring...

Hundreds of spectators were forced to flee in terror as a raging bull leapt over barriers at an arena in Spain.

Families scattered as the confused, half-tonne beast lurched into the crowded grandstand. In images captured by Spanish television, the animal can be seen running at the crowds before soaring over two barriers.

It took officials several minutes to subdue the animal, which was tied up before being removed from the stand with a crane. It was later destroyed.

Held at the Tafalla arena, in the Navarra region, the "recortes", or bull-leaping, event involves young people dodging charging bulls. Forty people were injured by the animal, three seriously. A 10-year-old boy was in intensive care after being crushed, while a man who was gored in the back was in a stable condition. The bull had already tried to jump the fence twice, breaking one of its horns in the process, and was about to be removed from the arena when it managed to scale the arena walls.

Inaki Zunzarren, who was treated for bruises, told regional newspaper Diario de Navarra: "The bull caught me and hurled me against the [concrete] seating. What an experience."

"What could have been a tragedy ended up as a big fright," said Tafalla mayor, Cristina Sota.