The photo has been used for illustrative purposes.

Gulf Today Report

The police chief of a Philippine town was killed during a raid on an illegal cockfight when he bled to death after the razor-sharp metal blade on one of the roosters sliced an artery in his leg, officials said.

The freak accident that killed San Jose Police Chief Lt. Christian Bolok happened on Monday in Madugang village in Northern Samar province.

Cockfighting is a popular blood sport in the archipelago where money is bet on the outcome of a fight — often to the death — between two colourful birds armed with bladed spurs.

It has been banned along with other sporting and cultural events during the coronavirus pandemic to prevent large crowds from gathering and spreading the contagion.

Police in the central province have been cracking down on illegal cockfights, as the gatherings have been blamed for helping spread the coronavirus.

Bolok, who was in his mid-30s, was trying to grab a rooster when one of its gaffs — small steel blades attached to a rooster's legs — cut a gaping wound on his left leg and hit his femoral artery, provincial Governor Edwin Ongchuan said.

"He was trying to confiscate the roosters but the problem was the rooster’s blade may have been laced with poison,” Ongchuan told by telephone.

He added that Bolok or his companions tried to slow the blood loss by tying a cloth tightly around his leg as a tourniquet but may have applied it in the wrong spot.

Police arrested three farmers, who had been taking part in the illegal game, and were searching for three others. Seven roosters, a pair of gaffs and 550 pesos ($10) in cash were seized by police, a police report said.