Pamplona’s San Fermin bull run festival horror after runner gored in face as beasts charge

A runner was gored in the face and 12 others needed medical treatment during a chaotic bull run at Spain’s San Fermin festival in Pamplona on Saturday as beasts charged down narrow streets

A runner was gored in the face and 11 others were hurt after bulls charged through the streets. Many others narrowly avoided serious injury during a tumultuous bull run at Spain’s San Fermin festival on Saturday.

The six bulls, accompanied by steers, charged through crowds of adrenaline-seekers who filled the narrow street course in Pamplona. The massive beasts knocked participants onto the cobblestones, and tripping runners caused several pileups during the two-and-a-half-minute sprint from the pen to the bull ring where the bulls will be slain later in the day.

One runner was impaled by a horn in the face, and 12 others required medical attention for a variety of injuries, according to the University of Navarra Hospital.

A black bull separated from the herd early in the 957-yard run and barrelled into a group of people, striking one squarely in the side of the face with a horn. It was unclear if this was the moment of the goring.

Many runners seemed entirely oblivious when bulls were breathing down their necks and, instead of attempting to gore them, simply pushed them aside.

Saturday marked the fifth morning run of the eight-day festival in northern Spain. This year’s festival marks 100 years since the publication of Ernest Hemingway’s novel The Sun Also Rises, which catapulted the San Fermin festival to global renown.

The last fatality at San Fermin’s bull runs occurred in 2009, but gorings and fractures are frequent, partly due to the high number of novice bull runners and foreign tourists who join the seasoned locals.

Last year, a British expat was rushed to hospital with a gored leg after he was rammed by a bull during a busy event.

The man, aged 47, was watching the performance, organised by the Passio pels Bous bullfighting association, when a bull from the pack charged at him in the town of Pedreguer, Spain.

The animal hurled the man against a protective barrier, injuring his leg. Workers at the event rushed over to help the resident and took him to a transport station. A doctor said that the man had also suffered major nose injuries.

It came after five people were taken to hospital on the first day of the Running of the Bulls festival in Pamplona old town. The victims, all described as men aged between 21 to 49, were injured after the animal escaped. One man sustained a serious chest trauma injury and multiple rib fractures.

One person who took part described the ordeal and said: “It was panic out there today. It’s a miracle if only one person ended up getting gored. It could have been into double figures.” One of the bull’s became separated from the rest of the animals and threw one runner into the air. The 90 stone ( 575 kilo) bull called Caminante, slammed the man down onto the ground.

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