Revelers run beside Pedraza de Yeltes’s fighting bulls as they go on the way of the Estafeta corner during the fourth running of the bulls at the San Fermin Festival, in Pamplona, northern Spain, Sunday, July 10, 2016. AP
PAMPLONA, Spain—Two men were in serious condition after being gored during the fourth day of the running of the bulls at Pamplona’s San Fermin festival on Sunday, officials said. Three others sustained head injuries.
Neither the identities nor further details were provided about the two gored men. The three others with head injuries, all Spaniards, were hospitalized. One was under observation and two were in fair condition.
More than 1,000 participants packed the narrow stone-cobbled streets of Pamplona’s old town. The bulls came out strong from the starting gate and completed the 930-yard (850-meter) run within 2 ½ minutes.
Slips and falls, however, were constant by bulls and runners, and some participants were stampeded by the 1,300-pound (590-kilogram) animals on the way to the bullring.
One of the runners, on a fence, was charged head-on by a bull but was still able to clear the running lane by rolling under a railing after falling. Another runner avoided goring but was flipped violently and hit head his head hard against the ground.
Initial medical reports said that there were three head injuries but no gorings. Some participants at Sunday’s bull run wore black armbands in honor of 29-year-old matador Victor Barrio, who was fatally gored Saturday during a bullfight in eastern Spain.
Bull runs are a traditional part of summer festivals across Spain. The nine-day San Fermin fiesta became world famous with Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel “The Sun Also Rises” and attracts thousands of foreign tourists.
Ten people, including four Americans, were gored in the San Fermin festival last year. In all, 15 people have died from gorings in the festival since record-keeping began in 1924.