A participant falls while running in front of the bulls during the “encierro” (running of the bulls) at the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, northern Spain, on July 7, 2024. (Photo by Miguel Riopa/AFP)
July 7, 2024
PAMPLONA, Spain (AFP) — Six people were injured on Sunday during Spain’s traditional annual San Fermin bull-running festival, including one person who was gored by bull horns and five others with bruises, a local government source said.
Authorities said a 37-year-old Spanish man was stabbed but suffered minor injuries.
The nine-day festivities kicked off on Saturday, when thousands of revellers dressed in white robes and red scarves filled the city’s central square to watch the chupinazo, a firecracker that signals the start of an event that dates back to the Middle Ages.
The race gained worldwide fame when it was immortalised in the 1926 novel “The Sun Also Rises” by American author Ernest Hemingway.
The festival includes concerts, religious processions, and copious amounts of wine.
Each day at 8 am, hundreds of participants take on the challenge of a dangerous 850-metre (930 yd) race through the narrow streets of the city centre, aiming to outrun or at least avoid six fighting bulls.
During the intense “running of the bulls,” which lasts less than three minutes, runners sprint to the Pamplona Bullring, where the afternoon bullfight takes place, trying to get as close as possible to the animals.
This year, San Fermin fell on a Sunday, so more people attended than if the saint’s day had fallen on a weekday.
Anyone over 18 years of age can participate.
Dozens of people are injured each year, mostly from falls or being trampled by animals. There have been 16 recorded deaths since 1911, with the last confirmed death occurring in 2009.
{“jamaica-observer”:”Jamaica Observer”}
