1 gored, 4 hurt on day one of famed Spanish bull run
PAMPLONA, Spain: One person was gored and four others injured yesterday at the first running of the bulls in this year’s San Fermin festival at Pamplona, one of Spain’s best-loved traditions.
The week-long event kicked off on Friday with the midday firing of the traditional chupinazo firework rocket on the city hall balcony as revellers descended on Pamplona in the northern Navarra region for an event dating back more than 700 years.
But the first run – where bulls charge runners through narrow cobbled streets – only began yesterday morning and already five were wounded, Red Cross officials said, adding that one of them was gored.
The streets were slippery due to overnight showers and some bulls became separated from the herd and took other paths.
The bulls completed the 848metre run from the corral to the bull-ring in just under three minutes.
Inigo Plaza, a tall 29-year-old automobile worker who took part in the run, said: “The important thing is to finish in one piece and to be here again tomorrow.”
“To have an animal weighing 600 kilos behind you and with all these people in the streets, it’s an undescribable feeling of adrenaline and excitement,” he gushed.
The festival claims scores of casualties every year.
In 2017, there were more than 17,000 participants and 64 were wounded.
Seven of the injured had been gored. Since 1910, 16 runners have died – the last one in 2009.