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Monday, July 13, 2009

Pamplona runner is gored in the chest by a 1,268lb bull - and survives

By Mail Foreign Service

This is the terrifying moment a Pamplona reveller is tossed into the air and then gored by a rampaging bull.

The man was caught in the chest and legs when the large bull became separated from the pack on the slippery cobblestone streets of Spain's Pamplona.

The bull - a 1,268lb Miura - jerked the runner upward and then rolled him along the ground like a rag doll. Miuras are the largest and most famous of Spain's fighting bulls.

A Miura fighting bull that became separated from the pack gores a runner during the sixth bull run of the San Fermin festival in Pamplona

Terrifying: A Miura fighting bull that became separated from the pack gores a runner during the sixth bull run of the San Fermin festival in Pamplona

The reveller was covered in blood and had his trousers torn off during the bull's wild attack.

Screaming out in agony, the man was dragged away by two fellow runners before being rushed to hospital.

The bull initially got a horn caught on a wooden barrier at a bend in the route, slipped and became embroiled in a three-animal pile-up before resuming its gallop.

Bulls are at their most dangerous when the pack splits up, leaving individual animals disoriented and irritated by the large crowds traditionally clad in white, with red bandanna neckerchiefs and cummerbunds.

The reveler is tossed to the ground as the bull's horns rips apart his trousers

Mayhem: The reveler is tossed to the ground as the bull's horns rips apart his trousers

The man's face says it all as the bull rams its horns into him, in Pamplona, Spain

Horror: The man's face says it all as the bull rams its horns into him

In other graphic images, one man was gored in the neck during the five-minute run on the sixth day of the running of the bulls at the San Fermin festival.

Three other runners were also gored, while six received medical treatment for bruising.

One man was hit hard on the chin and knocked unconscious by a calf inside the bullring after the running of the bulls had finished.

It comes after a 27-year-old man was gored to death on Friday - the first fatality since 1995.

The man is dragged away by a fellow runner as soon as the bull appears to back off

Lucky escape: The man is dragged away by a fellow runner as soon as the bull appears to back off

Spaniard Daniel Jimeno Romero was gored in the upper chest and neck and was declared dead shortly after reaching the hospital.

Hundreds of revelers paid homage to Mr Romero by leaving traditional red neckerchiefs tied to wooden barriers at the spot where a bull gored him fatally in the upper chest and neck.

For more than 100 years thrill-seekers have accompanied the bulls from a pen outside the city walls on a dangerous, daredevil run to the bullring. In the afternoon, the bulls face matadors and almost certain death.

The pack races along the often damp cobblestone course accompanied by six steers, each with a large clanking bell around its neck, whose function is to try to keep the group trotting together.

A runner (right) is gored in the neck by a Miura bull

Dangerous: A runner (right) is gored in the neck by a Miura bull

He requires urgent medical attention as blood pours from his nose and neck

Treatment: He requires urgent medical attention as blood pours from his nose and neck

The bulls running yesterday belonged to breeder Dolores Aguirre, famed for producing hefty, strong animals. The largest of the six animals weighed in at 1,378 pounds.

Despite the large number of runners and the separation of one bull from the pack, all of Aguirre's animals entered the ring in 2 minutes, 52 seconds, a reasonably fast time.

'I noticed the streets were swollen by a lot of runners,' said Jaime de Vargas, who had dedicated his run to fellow bull aficionado and friend Mr Romero.