Shock moment bulls tear through Spanish streets & gore thrillseekers fleeing as at least 12 injured in Pamplona festival
THIS is the moment a bunch of raging bulls stormed through the streets and injured at least 12 people during the annual bull run festival in Spain.
One person is said to have been gored while dozens were hit and tossed around in the first two days of the San Fermin Festival that kicked off in Pamplona.
Thousands of revellers dressed in white clothes and red scarves filled the city’s main square yesterday as well as this morning – only to dash along raging bulls while dodging their deadly horns.
Dramatic footage showed the angry bulls chasing the thrillseekers as they took part in the adrenaline-filled race.
The bulls can be seen tearing through the crowd and striking people on their way.
One person, who slipped and fell on the ground, was run over by the fighting bulls.
Others were tossed in the air as they tried to evade the wrath of the beasts.
Local government said a 37-year-old Spanish man was brutally struck by large bull horns during the traditional event, but was later released with minor injuries.
Several other people, including a 54-year-old man from New York, were severely bruised after receiving blows to their shoulders, face and head amid the fast-paced race.
One man was seen being taken away on a stretcher after being seriously injured at the maddening event.
Popular for bullfights, the San Fermin Festival is a week-long event held in Spain that attracts thrill-seekers from all over the world.
Each morning, hundreds of such people throw themselves into a dangerous 850-metre race, seeking to outrun – or at least avoid – heavy fighting bulls through the city centre’s narrow streets.
During the intense “running of the bulls”, which lasts less than three minutes, the runners try to get as close as possible to the animals in their sprint to the Pamplona bullring, where bullfights are held in the afternoon.
The bulls that run each morning are killed in the afternoon by professional bullfighters.
The run became world famous after being immortalised by US writer Ernest Hemingway in his novel “The Sun Also Rises” in 1926.
Dozens of people are injured each year, although most are injuries resulting from falls or being stomped by animals.
To date, 16 deaths have also been recorded since 1911, the last coming in 2009.
It comes after dozens of bullfighting fans were gored and tossed around the ring in a festival bloodbath in March.
Two people were dead while eight were badly injured in the horrific bullfighting event that took place in Arjona, Columbia.
Horrific footage shows hundreds of would-be matadors getting inside the arena to test their bravery as people in the audience torment the bull by throwing anything that comes to hand at it.
Maddened by the taunting, the bull is seen charging at one man and catching him on his horns – spinning him through the air like a rag doll.
Then the bull flips him backwards over his back and he crashes to the ground as the bull roars off to another target.
In another clip, a man is seen desperately trying to outrun the bull but he is caught by a full-blooded charge, which knocked him to the ground heavily.
It comes after the so-called “Messi of Matadors” was brutally gored by a rampaging 1,000lb bull.
Shocking footage showed the beast charge at Andrés Roca Rey, 26, before crushing him against the barriers and throwing him in the air.
Renowned Peruvian bullfighter Roca Rey was rushed to hospital with multiple injuries following the terrifying incident at Spain‘s Santiago de Santander Fair.
He was left with injuries to his neck, face, right thigh and left knee – the worst of his eight-year career.