There were two incidents within the region during Three-Kings parades; one in Pedro Martínez in the north of Granada and the other in Marchena, Sevilla.

In Pedro Martínez the fiesta was suspended after a middle-aged man suddenly collapsed and died in the main square.

The procession had been set to begin at 17.00h on the 5th, leaving the Nave de la Cerámica (Ceramics Warehouse) so the Mayor called it off.

The town only has 1,000 inhabitants and everybody knows everybody there.

“We were obliged to make this decision no matter how much we were all looking forward to it, but it couldn’t go ahead under those circumstance,” explained Mayor Juan Antonio Fernández. Everybody was in their costumes and mounted in their floats when the word came in.

Meanwhile in Marchena (Sevilla) several people were knocked over by a tractor pulling a float, whose brakes are believed to have failed, although this hypothesis is yet to be confirmed.

The incident occurred around 20.15h on the 5th when the procession was entering Calle Canónigo Álvarez Talaverón which runs slightly downhill. Suddenly the driver lost control of the tractor and swept before it everybody standing in the way.

Amongst  those run down was a 71-year-old woman who had to be pulled out from under the vehicle – she had died in the act.

The runaway tractor & float covered between 20 and 25 metres claiming 13 victims, all of whom were injured to varying degrees, amongst them three minors (a 2-year-old boy and a 12-year-old one) who needed to be hospitalised with serious injuries. There was also a 12-month-old baby that was slightly injured.

The driver, who had to be treated afterwards for shock, said that he had tried to stop the vehicle but there was no response from the brakes. He could only shout at people to get out of the way because it was out of control.

All float drivers are subjected to a breathalyser before the procession starts and in the case of the tractor driver, like everybody else, his results were negative. The Guardia Civil repeated the test after the accident but it gave the same negative results.

The police are requesting that anybody who has any footage of what happened should hand in a copy for the investigation.

(News: Pedro Martínez/Marchena, Granada/Sevilla, Andalucia)