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Seventh day of blood and gore in Pamplona

Bulls roughed up seven people on Sunday as they thundered down the rain-slicked cobblestone streets of Pamplona during the weeklong San Fermin festival, officials said.

  • AP
  • Published: 00:08 July 14, 2008
  • Gulf News

Pamplona: Bulls roughed up seven people on Sunday as they thundered down the rain-slicked cobblestone streets of Pamplona during the weeklong San Fermin festival, officials said.

Yesterday's run - the seventh of the festival - featured six massive Miura bulls, traditionally the largest and fastest-running fighting bulls bred in Spain.

Many of those running alongside the bulls had to dive for cover as the pack neared during the 850-metre stretch from corral to the bullring, with some crushed, cut and bruised.

Seven people were taken to Pamplona's two hospitals, including one with multiple injuries and three with chest injuries, said Dr Ignacio Yurss, director of the Navarra Hospital in Pamplona.

The runs to the bullring from stables just outside the city's northern medieval walls take place at 8am daily and are the highlight of festivities made famous by Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises.

Fourteen runners have died in the running of the bulls since record keeping began in 1924. The last person to die of a goring was a 22-year-old American, Matthew Tassio, in 1995.

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