(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Hundreds of thrill-seekers dashed ahead of six half-tonne fighting bulls through the cobbled streets on Pamplona in northern Spain yesterday in the fifth day of the famed San Fermin festival.
No one was gored on the fourth bull run of the festival but a 25-year-old
man was taken to hospital with a dislocated elbow after he was trampled by bulls, organisers said.
The man slipped and fell to the ground about mid-way through the course and was stepped on by at least three bulls as he lay in the middle of the street.
Runners, wearing traditional white clothing and red kerchiefs around their necks, collided with each other or pushed one another out of the way in panic as the galloping animals neared.
"The bull run was spectacular. A bull stormed by us. It was an incredible feeling," said Miguel Leza Olivan, a 43-year-old from Pamplona who took part with two friends.
The bulls took just two minutes and 24 seconds to cover the 846.6m course from a pen to the city's bull ring where they were to be killed in an afternoon bullfight.
Despite their huge size, the average speed of a herd of bulls at San Fermin is 24kph.
It was the fourth of eight scheduled runs at the San Fermin festival, which was made famous worldwide by Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises.
Two Americans and a Briton were gored in the first run on Tuesday and an Australian man was gored on the second run on Wednesday. None of their injuries were serious.
Fifteen people have been killed in the bull runs since modern-day records started in 1911. The most recent fatality was in 2009 when a bull gored a 27-year-old Spaniard in the neck, heart and lungs.
Last year just over 17,000 people joined the festival's eight daily bull runs, with over half of them, 56%, coming from abroad, according to Pamplona city hall.
Officials estimate that the city's normal population of around 300,000 triples during the July 6-14 festival, which includes concerts, round-the-clock drinking, religious processions and nightly fireworks shows.
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