PAMPLONA // Two Americans were gored and several other people were injured on Saturday during the second running of the bulls at this year's San Fermin festival in the northern Spanish city of Pamplona.
The regional government of Navarra said that a 22-year-old American man identified only by the initials J.C. was in serious condition at a nearby hospital after being gored. Another 35-year-old American identified as B.H. was also gored but was in stable condition.
Televised images showed a bull thrusting its horn into a man's buttocks before flipping him into the street, while another man's arm was impaled and he was dragged for several metres before the bull flung him off and stormed over him.
Three other Americans, two Frenchmen and three Spaniards — all men — needed treatment at the hospital for injures received while running with the large crowd of thrill-seekers.
On Friday, two Americans and a Spaniard were gored on the first running. All three were treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
The first part of Saturday's run was particularly dangerous, with the bulls ploughing into the slower-moving crowds, knocking many runners as they moved down narrow streets and around wooden barricades.
The bulls from the ranch of Jose Escolar confirmed their reputation for unpredictability. The bulls completed the 850-metre course in just over four minutes — well over the average of three minutes — because one bull broke away from the rest and turned around.
This was the third consecutive annual appearance by bulls from the Jose Escolar ranch, and the third time one of the six bulls has separated from the pack.
The nine-day San Fermin fiesta attracts tens of thousands of partygoers from Spain and abroad. It was popularized by Nobel Literature laureate Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel "The Sun Also Rises."
