Pamplona bulls injury toll rises

PAMPLONA, Spain -- The injury toll has risen in the famous annual Pamplona bull run, in which six people were gored on Saturday.

On the second dash on Sunday, three more people were taken to hospital with minor injuries as rains rendered this year's runs the most dangerous for some time.

One of the six bulls was separated from the rest of the group on Sunday and charged at spectators, with its horns dipped and ready to attack.

Cattle herders eventually managed to guide it back along the route in Pamplona's historic town centre.

Television pictures showed a bull pinning a man to a wall. But its long, sha rp horn passed only through his shirt, leaving him dangling for a few seconds with his shorts ripped open.

Hundreds of people dressed in the traditional white with red scarves take part in each of the daily "encierros," running alongside, in front or behind the bulls and a few bullocks.

The bulls set off each morning on an 825-metre (half-mile) stampede from a corral to an outdoor arena where they will be killed by matadors later in the day.

Six people were gored, three of them seriously, in the first dash on Saturday.

The San Fermin fiesta is held every year for nine days in July. It was immortalised in Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises.

The fiesta kicked off on Friday, with thousands of locals and tourists participating in the festivities.

The running of the bulls tradition dates back to 1591 when the purpose was to move the bulls into the arena. In the 17th century, a few daring spectators jumped in front of the bulls and ran for the first time.