(Pamplona) Six people were injured on Sunday at the first “encierro” (running of the bulls) of the San Firmin festivities that began the day before in Pamplona, in northern Spain, the regional government announced.
Five of the injured, including a 54-year-old American from New York, suffered shock and another, a 37-year-old Spaniard, was lightly hit by a bull’s horn, according to a statement from the government of Navarre, the region of which Pamplona is the capital.
PHOTO ANDER GILLENEA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Medical staff treat a participant lying on the ground after a fall during the first “encierro” on July 7 in Pamplona.
The running of the bulls had drawn crowds because it was the first of the San Firmin celebrations this year and fell on a Sunday.
The traditional “encierros” are the highlight of the festivities and take place each morning at 8 a.m. (2 a.m. Eastern Time). The San Firmin festivities, during which participants dress in red and white, attract visitors from around the world and were immortalized by American writer Ernest Hemingway in his novel The Sun Also Risesin 1926.
For eight days, hundreds of people race down the cobbled streets of Pamplona for about 850 metres in front of six fighting bulls, with the aim of getting as close as possible to them.
PHOTO CESAR MANSO, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
The race, in which anyone over 18 years of age can participate, ends in the city’s bullring, where a bullfight takes place in the afternoon in which these six bulls will be put to death.
The “encierros” cause dozens of injuries and sometimes deaths every year – the last one was in 2009, when a 27-year-old Spaniard was gored by a bull. Since 1911, when data began to be compiled, at least 16 runners have died.
The festivities, which have been going on since the Middle Ages, begin on July 6 with the launch of the “chupinazo” – a pyrotechnic rocket – and end on July 14. They give rise to a whirlwind of concerts, religious processions, fireworks and drinking until the early hours.