Man Crushed By 550-Pound Ball In Spain's Boloencierro Festival [Video]

A 29-year-old man was crushed by a 550-pound polystyrene ball in Mataelpino, Madrid, Spain, on Sunday at a festival hailed as a “cruelty-free,” less-dangerous alternative to the running of the bulls tradition that is popular in the country.

The victim in question was participating in the "Boloencierro" festival, which translates to "running of the balls" contest, where competitors try to outrun giant boulders rolling down a 1,640 feet slope.

On the second day of the festival, around 12:30 p.m. local time (6:30 a.m. EDT), the man was crushed against the gate of a bullring — where the festival has been taking place for the past seven years — after one of the polystyrene balls bounced off the fence. A video of the incident captured the moment the giant ball crushed the man, Local reported.

Warning: The content of the video may be disturbing for some viewers

The man suffered severe head injury and was put on assisted breathing by emergency services. He was then airlifted from the arena and quickly transported to nearby hospital. His current condition is not known.

“The injured man is 29 and was run over by the ball at the entrance to the bullring,” a spokesman for an emergency services coordination center covering the Madrid region, confirmed, Mirror Online reported.

This was not the first time that the festival ended up injuring the revelers. Last year, a participant was left in coma after being hit in the head by one of the giant boulders, while another suffered multiple rib fractures and had to be hospitalized.

Mataelpino Mayor Javier Pérez de los Nietos released the following statement on the deaths at the time: “We are going to review all of our security measures and boost the information given out because people have started coming here from all over the world. We don't want this to become a tragic event, but rather something fun. People who are used to bulls know that they can't just stand still in front of them because they could be gored. But with the ball some people think that nothing will happen to them, but this is not the case. If they get a direct hit, it can be serious.”

Boloencierro, which combined the Spanish terms for bowling ball and running of the bulls, has been hailed by the Spanish government to be safer than having participants chased through narrow cobbled streets by a pack of half-ton angry bulls.

Instead of the horned beasts, competitors are dared to outrun polystyrene balls coated with a thick layer of resin and then painted with images of bulls. While the balls are generally more stable than the bulls, given that they don’t change direction based on their temperament, the giant boulders weigh as much as some small bulls and hence are capable of inflicting damage if a person is caught in their path.