One person injured in running of the bulls

11 July 2007

MADRID – One person was slightly injured by a bull as hundreds of people took part in the fifth running of the bulls Wednesday in Pamplona’s San Fermin festival.

The man was treated for a cut in the left buttock after one of the bulls tossed him in the air and then pinned him on the ground just seconds before the end of the run

Another person was treated for a shoulder bruising and a third for a leg sprain, Jose Aldaba, spokesman for the Spanish Red Cross, told Spanish National Television.

The identities of the three were not immediately available.

The fifth run was relatively clean and fast, lasting just over three minutes. The bulls remained in a pack for most of the route until the final meters (yards).

Halfway along, one person got up after falling, only to run straight into an oncoming charging bull.

In the runs, held at 8 a.m. (0600 GMT), hundreds of enthusiasts, including many foreigners, run alongside six fighting bulls and their guiding steer along a near kilometer (half-mile) -long route to the city’s bull ring.

The festival in this northern town, renowned for its all-night street parties, dates back to the late 16th century. It gained worldwide fame in Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel “The Sun Also Rises.”

Since record-keeping began in 1924, 13 people have been killed during the runs, the most recent in 1995.

[Copyright AP with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news