Thrillseekers risk their lives at Pamplona bull-running festival

Two US tourists have been gored and trampled amid chaotic scenes at the start of Pamplona's world- famous bull- running festival. One man was lanced in the scrotum and another in the chest as bulls from the notorious Cebada Gago ranch rampaged through the streets of the north eastern Spanish city.

Shocking images showed a participant being upended by a black bull before being hurled high in the air and smashed back down on the ground. Another was hoisted in the air by his white trousers and left dangling upside down for several seconds on the end of another bull's horn. Two of those gored during the San Fermin festival were from the US, aged 29 and 35, while a third was a 46- year- old from Spain. A man from Ireland, 39, was also hurt.

Meanwhile, there were chaotic scenes in the city's bullring, when an animal activist jumped into the arena to shield an animal that lay bleeding and dying from knife wounds. Three anti- cruelty campaigners disruped one of the first events in the festival in Pamplona which is set to bring in more than one million people from around the world. The trio stormed the city's bullring after matador Pablo Hermoso had killed the first bull of the tournament in front of a huge crowd. Organisers of the fiesta have slammed their actions as being irresponsible, breaching security arrangements and causing an unsafe situation which could have endangered the lives of other people. But the anti-bullfighters say that although they probably face jail for their actions, it was ' worth it' for the world to see ' the cruelty of bullfighting'.

Outside the arena, medics in the city said a Spanish man is undergoing surgery for serious injuries to his head and leg after he was gored and then tossed by a bull.

More runners were treated on the spot for bruises, a Red Cross spokesman said, as two of the animals separated from the other four in the pack on their way to Pamplona's bullring.

They completed the 930- yard course through cobbled streets in just under three minutes, a speed that is considered average for the run.

Friday's bulls came from the Cebada Gago ranch, famed as fierce because they have traditionally caused more injuries. Since they debuted in Pamplona's narrow streets in 1985, bulls from the southern Spanish breeding family have gored 53 people.

The nine- day San Fermin fiesta was immortalised by Nobel Literature laureate Er nest Hemingway in his 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises.

Sixteen people have been killed at the annual festival since records began in 1910.

The most recent death was in 2009 when 27- year- old Daniel Jimeno, from Madrid, was gored in the neck by a bull called Capuchino.

Several foreigners, f rom Australians to Americans through to Britons and Irish, are normally among the injured.

Virtually all the revellers wear red and white during the festival.

A Red Cross spokesman, speaking minutes after the first of this year's eight morning runs finished, confirmed: ' At least two people suffering gore injuries, one in the scrotum and one in the chest, have been transferred to hospital but this is a first incident report and the number of injured could rise.'

The Cebada Gago bulls come from a ranch near Cadiz.

They have a fearsome reputation and at 53, have caused more injuries than any others since their debut at the famous festival in 1985.

The festival, which lasts nine days in all, has become increasingly popular with foreigners who join the locals by staying up all night drinking and partying.

Some 300 police officers are on duty to control the crowds. Up to a million people are expected in the city during the festival, the largest in Spain.

After each run, the animals are killed in an afternoon bullfight.

(© Daily Mail, London)