More bulls in Pamplona have been injured under the hooves of bullfighting officials on the third day of the event, with two men taken to hospital with minor injuries, local government sources in the Spanish city said.
According to the University Hospital of Navarra, two men, aged 24 and 29, suffered facial injuries, but none were caused by direct contact with the bulls’ horns and their lives are not in danger.
Dramatic footage showed revellers stumbling and covering their heads as they tried to outrun fighting bulls on Tuesday morning in the dangerous race that takes place over 850 metres through the city’s narrow streets.
This comes after one participant was gored over the weekend and five others suffered bruising.
A 37-year-old man from Beriain, near Pamplona, where the annual festival is held every July, has suffered the only bloody injury so far this year.
Revellers run during the running of the bulls at the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, Spain, on Tuesday
The ‘mozos’ are chased by a group of bulls from the Herederos de Victoriano del Río cattle farm as they run together through the streets during the third running of the bulls of the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, northern Spain, on Tuesday.
Some runners are run over by a group of bulls from the Herederos de Victoriano del Río ranch that roam the streets during the third running of the bulls on Tuesday
Among the five other victims was a 54-year-old man from New York. All six of the runners who required hospital treatment were men.
Sixteen people have died at the annual festival since records began in 1910, most recently in 2009, while many more are injured while trying to escape the wild beasts.
The festivities, which include bull runs as well as concerts, religious processions and copious amounts of wine, were made famous by Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel “The Fiesta.”
The curtain rose on nine days of festivities on Saturday when thousands of people filled the city’s main square for the ‘chupinazo’, the firecracker that inaugurates an event that dates back to medieval times.
Attendees, dressed in the essential white suits and a red scarf around their necks, celebrated by dousing each other in wine and sangria.
Two men were injured in Tuesday’s race, but according to the University Hospital of Navarra, their injuries were not life-threatening.
Fall in attendance on the third day of bull runs in Pamplona on Tuesday
During the San Fermín celebrations, it is traditional to dress in white with a red sash and scarf.
Revellers surround a wild cow at the San Fermin festival
The 8am running of the bulls on Tuesday was the third of eight so-called “encierros” (bull runs) that are the highlight of the festival.
Led by six young bulls, the bulls began their half-kilometre journey through the streets of Pamplona’s old town.
According to commentators, this morning’s race was “fast and clean”, lasting just 2 minutes and 26 seconds.
But the bulls were seen colliding with the runners as they headed towards an alley.
The bulls that run every morning are slaughtered in the afternoon by professional bullfighters.
Five women attended the running of the bulls at the San Fermin festival yesterday in Pamplona, Spain
Revellers attend the ‘Giants and Bigheads’ parade during the San Fermin Festival in Pamplona on Sunday
Revellers wait at the fence for the start of the first bull run
Every year, between 200 and 300 people are injured during bull runs, often foreigners from Great Britain, the United States and Australia.
The most recent death occurred in 2009, when Daniel Jimeno, 27, of Madrid, was gored in the neck by a bull named Capuchino.
Animal rights activists campaign against the festival every year, saying it is cruel to animals, who are provoked and then killed in front of baying crowds.
The annual festival honors the city’s first bishop and patron saint, San Fermín.
The encierro (bull run) has its origins in the ancient practice of transporting bulls from fields outside the city, where they were raised, to the bullring, where they were slaughtered.
During this ‘race’, local youths would jump over each other in an attempt to show off their courage.
Bull runs are held in several towns in Spain and in some cities in Mexico, with the most famous being the one in Pamplona.
A ‘recortador’ jumps over a bull at the Plaza de Toros during a show after the first day of the San Fermin fiestas in Pamplona, northern Spain, on Saturday
A bullfighter is run over by an angry bull in the bullring during a show after the first day of the San Fermin festivities in Pamplona
Participants covered their heads as the bull leapt over them as it was led into the arena.
A participant is run over by a young cow during a show after the second running of the bulls of the Sanfermines in Pamplona
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