'%20id='ico-down'%20stroke='%23000000'%20stroke-width='1.5'%3e%3cg%20transform='translate(1092.250000,%20254.750000)'%3e%3cpolyline%20id='Path-2-Copy-4'%20transform='translate(5.500000,%202.750000)%20scale(1,%20-1)%20rotate(-180.000000)%20translate(-5.500000,%20-2.750000)%20'%20points='0%200%205.5%205.5%2011%200'%3e%3c/polyline%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/svg%3e){kind=small}
9 July 2004
PAMPLONA- Nine people, including an American and a Briton, were injured Friday on the third day of the annual running of the bulls festival, medical officials said.
The four-minute stampede through narrow streets was the longest and most dangerous of the nine-day festival, known as the San Fermin fiesta.
A 23-year-old Spaniard was the most seriously hurt, sustaining a wound 15-centimetre deep on his left thigh.
The 22-year-old US national from Louisiana suffered injuries to his left knee, while the 22-year-old Briton from Oxford was hit in the groin. Another
person was also gored.
The five other people suffered bruises.
Many people fell because of the large number of runners.
The six bulls used Friday came from the Nunez del Cuvillo ranch and were accompanied by a crowd dressed in traditional red and white outfits.
The ritual has killed 14 people since 1911.
The San Fermin fiesta features bullfighting, concerts, round-the-clock drinking, as well as the daily run by crowds ahead of the bulls.
People risk being trampled or gored by the bulls on the 825-metre (about a half mile) course from the pen to the arena, in a ritual made famous by Ernest Hemingway’s novel “The Sun Also Rises”.
About 300 animal rights protestors staged a demonstration dressed only in their underwear Monday.
The nine-day event was expected to generate EUR 45 million ( USD 55 million) in income for Pamplona.
[Copyright EFE with Expatica]
Subject: Spanish news