4 injured in opening Pamplona bull run

A red-and-white sea of revellers soaked each other with wine in a packed Pamplona square on Friday, kicking off Spain’s most famous bull-running fiesta.

PAMPLONA, Spain – Thousands of daredevils fled half-ton bulls thundering through Pamplona’s streets Saturday in the first bull run of Spain’s San Fermin festival, resulting in at least four injuries.

One man was gored in the leg and three others suffered bruises or cuts to their legs or backs in falls and were taken to hospital, an emergency services spokesman said.

“None of the injuries are serious,” he said.

Runners, wearing traditional white clothing and red kerchiefs around their necks, tripped over each other or fell in the mad dash through the narrow, winding streets of the northern Spanish city.

Some dared to run at just arm’s length from the six huge fighting bulls and six steers, glancing nervously behind at the beasts’ dangerous curved horns.

Others chased behind the pack, occasionally touching the bulls’ sides, or cowered on the sidelines as the animals raced by.

The bulls, weighing between 520 and 590 kilos, stampeded through an 850-meter (2,800-foot) course from a holding pen to the city’s bull ring in just two minutes, 53 seconds in a run watched by millions on television.

During the final stretch a bull knocked a runner to the ground, and one of its horns speared the collar of the man’s shirt. The animal then dragged him face up for several metres into the bull ring.

Another bull’s horn pierced the white pant leg of a man who had fallen and tore off part of the material. The bull ran the rest of the course with the scrap of white cloth dangling from its horn.

“It was amazing, totally intense, scary. The build-up was just crazy,” said Collin Hamer, a 28-year-old from Texas, after he completed the run.

Runners did warm-up exercises as they waited behind a line of police for a firecracker to go off indicating the bulls’ release from their pen.

Loudspeakers repeatedly played an announcement in several languages – Spanish, English, French, Japanese – telling people not to run drunk.

“It is something you have to experience and feel. It’s a new experience, something that is impossible to forget,” said Aaron Bejar, a 31-year-old banker from Zaragoza who came to Pamplona with two friends to take part in a run.

Last year 20,500 people took part in the eight bull runs of the San Fermin festival, which wraps up on July 14.

Nearly half came from abroad, with the United States, Australia and Britain accounting for the greatest number of foreigners.

Every year between 200 and 300 participants in bull runs are injured, around three percent seriously. Most are hurt after falling, but some are trampled or gored by the bulls despite increased safety measures.

The last death occurred three years ago when a bull gored a 27-year-old Spaniard to death, piercing his neck, heart and lungs with its horns in front of hordes of tourists.

The San Fermin festival, which features concerts, folk dancing, religious processions and round-the-clock street drinking in addition to the early-morning bull runs and evening bullfights, wraps up on July 14.