Đồ Sơn fest stopped as buffalo kills owner

HẢI PHÒNG — Authorities in the northern port city of Hải Phòng halted the Đồ Sơn Buffalo Fighting Festival on Saturday after a man was gored to death by his buffalo.

They also ordered Đồ Sơn District, the festival organisers, to have all buffaloes in the competition undergo doping tests and to review security and safety measures.

On Saturday morning, soon after the festival opened in the city’s Đồ Sơn Stadium, buffalo number 18, while fighting a fellow creature, turned on its owner, gored him in the thigh, chest and neck, and then threw him into the air.

The victim Đinh Xuân Hướng, 47, a Đồ Sơn District native, was rushed unconscious to the hospital and succumbed to his injuries late Saturday afternoon. This is the first time such an incident has happened at the Đồ Sơn Buffalo Fighting Festival, which is recognised as a national intangible cultural heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. — VNS