A man has died after being 'gored in the heart' at a bull run in Spain.

The 66-year-old was taking part in a village festival in Segovia, a province northwest of Madrid, when he was charged by the animal and dragged several metres across the ground.

A video of the incident was posted on Spanish news websites. This brings the latest death toll by goring in Spanish festivals this year to a dozen, making it one of the deadliest in the sport’s history.

Last week in Lerin, a town in Navarre, footage filmed by a spectator showed the moment a young bull charged a 29-year-old and hit him in the stomach.

The man was airlifted to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

In pictures: Bull running in Pamplona Show all 12 1 /12 In pictures: Bull running in Pamplona In pictures: Bull running in Pamplona Spain A wild cow leaps over revellers into the bull ring after the second running of the bulls of the San Fermin festival in Pamplona in 2015 In pictures: Bull running in Pamplona Spain A runner falls in front of Tajo y la Reina fighting bulls at the entrance to the bullring during the second running of the bulls of the San Fermin festival in Pamplona In pictures: Bull running in Pamplona Spain Runners fall in front of Tajo y la Reina fighting bulls at the entrance to the bullring during the second running of the bulls of the San Fermin festival in Pamplona In pictures: Bull running in Pamplona Spain Runners, or mozos, are chased by bulls from El Tajo y la Reina ranch during the second bull run of the Fiesta de San Fermin in Pamplona In pictures: Bull running in Pamplona Spain An El Tajo y La Reina ranch fighting bull falls to the ground as it takes the Mercaderes curve during the second running of the bulls of the San Fermin festival in Pamplona In pictures: Bull running in Pamplona Spain A wild cow leaps over revellers into the bull ring after the second running of the bulls of the San Fermin festival in Pamplona In pictures: Bull running in Pamplona Spain A wild cow leaps over revellers into the bull ring after the second running of the bulls of the San Fermin festival in Pamplona In pictures: Bull running in Pamplona Spain A runner is gored by a bull, from El Tajo y la Reina ranch, at bullring at the end of the second bullrun of Sanfermines in Pamplona In pictures: Bull running in Pamplona Spain Revellers run with the Tajo and the Reina's fighting bulls entering Estafeta street during the third day of the San Fermin Running of the Bulls festival in Pamplona In pictures: Bull running in Pamplona Spain A Del Tajo la Reina's bull falls during the second "encierro" (bull-run) of the San Fermin Festival in Pamplona In pictures: Bull running in Pamplona Spain Revellers run with the Tajo and the Reina's fighting bulls entering Estafeta street during the third day of the San Fermin Running of the Bulls festival in Pamplona In pictures: Bull running in Pamplona Spain Runners enter the bullring during the second running of the bulls of the San Fermin festival in Pamplona in 2015

In July, a French tourist died during a bull-running event in Alicante. The death came as Spain's most famous bull-running festival, San Fermin in Pamplona, concluded.

And Francisco Rivera Ordóñez, one of Spain's star matadors, was rushed to hospital in serious condition after being gored through the groin during a contest in the north eastern town of Huesca.

The bull breeders' association UCTL said earlier this week that the number of deaths this year represented less than 0.1 per cent of participants, which number in the millions.

Over the past few years attitudes have changed towards the treatment of bulls in Spain and its traditional events, such as the “bous a la mar” in the village of Denia, where the bull is chased into the sea.

Many of the new left-wing administrations in Spanish towns have pulled subsidies from events involving bulls, and are considering holding referendums on whether to continue them.