Seven people were injured and thousands avoided being gored during the third bullring of Pamplona’s San Fermin Festival. Gorings, when a bull’s horn impales a runner, are the most dangerous injuries at the Spanish festival. A total of seven men – six Spaniards and one French – needed hospital treatment after this morning’s bullfight, but none of them were seriously injured. Initial reports said two people had been run over during the event, but Spanish authorities later corrected this to state that one man was scratched by a horn, not pierced. While no one was destroyed, there were several calls. The six bulls and six tame oxen that thundered through the narrow, twisting streets of Pamplona’s old quarter in two and a half minutes dropped several runners. The wildly popular festival, made famous to the English-speaking world through Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises, attracts huge numbers of visitors from all over the world. Thousands of men, and some women, take part in the ‘encierros’ or bullfights, trying to avoid the huge bulls and oxen. Saturday’s run was over in less than three minutes (Image: Burak Akbulut/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Fortunately, there were no surprises during the first three days of this year’s festival (Image: EPA) Seven people were taken to hospital after this morning’s bull run ( Image: Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images) The 875m track is sprayed with a substance that helps prevent the bulls from sliding around the tight corners. The run is usually over within three heart-stopping minutes. Experienced bull runners, mostly locals, try to sprint full steam right in front of the bull’s horns before breaking away at the last second. While inexperienced runners, a group that includes mostly outsiders, do well enough to get out of the way. The bulls that run every morning are killed in the afternoon by professional bullfighters. Thousands of people attend the iconic Spanish festival in Pamplona (Image: Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images) There are eight bullfights at the San Fermin festival (Image: EPA) Almost everyone in Pamplona wears the traditional white shirt and trousers with a red sash and scarf for the festival. The routes are followed by a day of drinking, eating and attending cultural events. Eight people were destroyed in 2019, the last festival before a two-year hiatus due to the Covid pandemic. Sixteen people have died in Pamplona’s bullfights since 1910, with the last fatality in 2009. Although it is one of the most famous traditional festivals in Europe, the festival of San Fermin is not without controversy. Animal rights activists have campaigned against the slaughter of the bulls, but bullfighting remains popular among sections of Spanish society and remains an integral part of the festival. Contact our news team by emailing [email protected] For more stories like this, check out our news page.
