Bull Gores Runner In The Face During Spain’s San Fermin Bull Run Festival
A runner was gored in the face during a chaotic bull run at Spain's San Fermin festival in Pamplona on Saturday, while many others narrowly avoided serious injury. The event saw six bulls and accompanying steers charge through crowds of thrill-seekers packed into the narrow, cobbled street course, knocking people to the ground and causing several pileups as stumbling runners fell.
According to the University of Navarra Hospital, one runner was pierced in the face by a horn, and 12 more people required medical treatment for various knocks. A black bull broke away from the pack early in the 875-metre run and ploughed into a group of people, striking one full in the side of the face, though it was not clear whether this was the moment of the goring. The two-and-a-half-minute run was the fifth of the eight-day festival, which this year coincides with the centenary of Ernest Hemingway's novel "The Sun Also Rises", the book credited with bringing San Fermin to international fame.
- One runner gored in the face at Pamplona's bull run.
- Twelve others treated for knocks and injuries.
- Fifth run of the eight-day San Fermin festival.
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San Fermin is an eight-day festival held annually in Pamplona in northern Spain, featuring the famous bull run, or encierro. The tradition involves six bulls and accompanying steers being released to charge through the narrow, cobbled streets of the old town, with hundreds of runners attempting to race ahead of them in a spectacle that has been practised for centuries.
The festival gained international prominence through Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel "The Sun Also Rises", which featured the event and brought San Fermin to worldwide attention. Since then it has become a major tourist attraction, drawing thousands of participants and spectators each year who come to experience the traditional spectacle.
The runs are known to be inherently risky, with participants regularly sustaining injuries during the event. The spectacle typically takes place early each morning during the festival week.