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Human bloodshed marks festival finale

 

People are pushed by a bull in the bull ring in Pamplona on July 14.

Five people were treated for injuries at Navarra Hospital on Sunday, after the final ritual running of the bulls at the Festival of San Fermin in Pamplona, Spain.

The most serious of Sunday’s injuries was sustained by a 23-year-old Australian woman, who was gored in the chest.

According to an official report, the woman suffered fractured rubs and damage to her right lung.

Her condition was described as “grave” by the regional government, which hosts the festival.

Participants wait for the start of the last bull run on July 14.

Three men were gored on Friday, including an American who underwent emergency surgery to remove his spleen, and another American who suffered a “rectal perforation.”

On Saturday, natives of Spain and Ireland were listed in “serious condition” after being trampled, apparently by people, during a pileup of some 200 runners and two bulls near the entrance to the festival’s main bullring. At least 20 people sustained injuries in the pileup.

Thrill seekers race amid Miura\'s bulls during the last bull run of the San Fermin Festival in Pamplona, Spain, on Sunday.

Thrill seekers race amid Miura's bulls during the last bull run of the San Fermin Festival in Pamplona, Spain, on Sunday.

An Australian woman is treated by medical personnel after being gored by a bull in Pamplona on July 14.Bullfighter Juan Jose Padilla performs with a bull during the San Fermin festival on Saturday, July 13.Runners clog the entrance to the bull ring in Pamplona ahead of several bulls on July 13. The resulting clash between revelers and bulls resulted in several injuries.

Crazy? Brave? Drunk? What drives Pamplona’s bull runners?

As part of the nine-day festival, which celebrates San Fermin, patron saint of Pamplona and the Navarra region, human thrill seekers run through the streets of Pamplona amid groups of six charging bulls.

The run takes place each day of the festival (excluding opening day) at 8 a.m. Many of the runners stay up all night, filling themselves with liquid courage before making the inebriated dash in the early light.

Runners trip and fall ahead of the bulls blocking the entrance to the bull ring on July 13. A fighting bull enters the bull ring on July 13, the eighth day of the running of the bulls.An injured man receives medical attention outside of the bull ring on July 13.

After a pair of rockets are set off, the bulls charge through crowds of runners for about 920 yards, the distance between the bull corral and bullring.

The run generally takes three or four minutes to complete.

This year’s festival ended on Sunday with a reported 206 people sustaining injuries during the bull runs.

According to various reports, 13, 14 or 15 runners have been killed at the running of the bulls over the last century.

The most recent fatality was in 2009 when a 27-year-old man from Madrid died after being gored in the neck.

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