Five people hospitalized after being knocked down by half-tonne cattle during the first "encierro".

The first release of bulls in three years of San Fermin, one of the most famous festivals in Spain, marked Thursday in Pamplona the return of accidents among thrill seekers.

While there were no open wounds from goring, several people were trampled or knocked down at 8 a.m. on the cobbled streets of the medieval town in northern Spain.

Among those taken to hospital, one person was treated for a leg injury, another took a blow to the head as he fell, while a teenager injured his arm, a porter said. word of the Red Cross.

“The bulls went straight ahead, so it went pretty fast”

The six bulls were guided through the alleys by six domestic oxen, whose role is to keep the herd together despite the swarm of "runners" dressed in white with red headscarves and sashes moving around them.

“The bulls stayed pretty tight, they went straight, so it went pretty fast,” said Gordon MacDonald, a 46-year-old telecommunications worker who came from Glasgow, Scotland, especially for the occasion. and who took part in the race.

Visitors from all over the world come to Pamplona to test their mettle and party day and night during these celebrations, which also include religious processions and concerts.

The party, immortalized in 1926 by Ernest Hemingway in his novel

The Sun Also Rises

and known worldwide ever since, was last held in July 2019.

Since 1910, 16 people have been killed during the release of bulls, the last death dating back to 2009. As for the bulls of the Núñez del Cuvillo breeding, they traveled the 850 meters which separated the enclosure where they were kept to the arenas in two minutes and 35 seconds.

They will then be put to death in the afternoon during the first bullfight of the festival.

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Spain: Three people gored at the start of the San Fermin celebrations in Pamplona

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