Spanish bull run injuries fall

This runner avoided serious injury despite three bulls bearing down on him

PAMPLONA, Spain -- No one was seriously injured on Tuesday amid smaller crowds and dryer streets on the fourth day of the famous bull running festival in Pamplona.

However, several runners were trampled, and one runner was the victim of a five-bull pileup along the path to the bull ring. He curled up and covered his head but was up and running after the bulls passed.

A few people were treated for minor injuries after tripping underneath the bulls, according to Red Cross spokesman Rafael Cortijo.

The first three days of the San Fermin run were much more dangerous when bulls charged and tossed several runners among crowds clad in white shirts, red kerchiefs and red sashes.

Six people were badly gored on Saturday during the first runs, known as "encierros."

The San Fermin festival is held every year for nine days in July. The bulls set off each morning on an 825-metre (half-mile) stampede from a corral to an outdoor arena where they are killed by matadors later in the day.

The last death in the festival came in 1995, when a 22-year-old man from the U.S. was gored.

Hundreds of thousands of visitors pack into Pamplona for the festival, many of them partying the night away on the streets before the morning run.

The San Fermin fiesta 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.

Crowds packed into the central square cheering and spraying each other with bottles of sparkling wine.

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.