PAMPLONA, SPAIN - NINE people were injured on Monday, including four foreigners, in the first day of the running of the bulls at the San Fermin festival in Pamplona in northeastern Spain, organisers said.
The injuries were mostly bruises, cuts and possible broken bones from falls during the run, a spokesman for the festival said. The injured were taken to two local hospitals, she said.
Among the injured was a 20-year-old US national from California and a 23-year-old South African who both suffered head injuries; a 21-year-old Briton and a 23-year-old from New Zealand.
On each day of the festival six bulls are released at 8 am (0600 GMT) to run from their corral through the narrow, cobbled streets of the old town over an 850-metre course.
Ahead of them are the runners, who try to stay close to the bulls without falling over or being gored.
The bulls face matadors in the ring on the afternoon of each day of Spain's most famous bull-running festival, which ends on July 14.
A total of 14 people have been killed in the bull run since 1911. Ernest Hemingway's description of the event in his 1926 novel 'The Sun Also Rises' helped give the it its international profile.
The festival also features a range of concerts, street parties and dances, attracting tourists from around the world. -- AFP
