A Canadian man is lucky to be alive after he was gored by a bull in the controversial but highly popular running of the bulls festival in Pamplona, Spain.
The 46-year-old man, identified only by his initials PCO, is listed in serious condition by the Navarro Hospital Complex after sustaining a 10-centimetre wound in his perineum. He was one of seven people gored by charging bulls on the second day of the festival on Friday. Sixteen people sustained various injuries during the run.
At least 16 runners have lost their lives down the years when taking part in the festival. The last casualty was Daniel Jimeno, fatally gored by a Jandilla bull in 2009, according to the festival website.
A wild cow jumps over revelers in the bullring after the first running of the bulls at the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, northern Spain, July 7, 2016. Eloy Alonso/REUTERS
The nine-day festival became famous with Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel “The Sun Also Rises.”
Participants run down a narrow 850-metre course alongside six bulls.
More than 1,000 people took part in Friday’s run, which lasted nearly six minutes.
The yearly event attracts thousands of foreign tourists, despite longstanding protests from animal rights groups that say the bulls are tortured and antagonized beforehand, as well as during bullfights which typically conclude with the killing of the animal by a single sword thrust.
With files from the Associated Press
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.