DEADLY RUN

Spanish man killed and Briton injured last week

A 27-year-old Spanish man was gored to death by a bull at the traditional running of the bulls festival in Pamplona, northern Spain, on Friday, the first such fatality since 1995. Daniel Jimeno Romero, 27, from Madrid, left, was pierced in the neck and lung when a half-ton brown bull called Cappuccino became separated from the rest of the herd and ploughed into a group of runners. Nine others were injured, including 20-year-old Alex Short, from London, who was taken to hospital after being gored in the left thigh. “I couldn’t jump over the barrier fast enough and the bull gored me in my left leg and then flipped me and landed me on the ground,” said Short. “I hit my head and blacked out, but then I must have come round because I managed to run to the side.”

FESTIVAL FIXTURE

Tradition may date back to the 13th century

The run, part of the annual San Fermin festival and immortalised in the 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, left, takes place every morning from July 7 to 14. At 8am, six bulls and a number of bullocks are released along the half-mile route through the old town from the corral to the bullfighting ring, where later in the day they will face matadors. The first recorded run was in 1592, but historians suggest the practice may have begun as early as the 13th century, with people joining the bulls in the 1800s. Today more than 2,000 thrill-seekers - many dressed in traditional white, with red neckerchiefs and carrying rolled-up newspapers - sprint through the streets, chased by the charging bulls.

WEIGHING THE RISKS

15 previous deaths since 1924, the last in 2003

Despite the risks involved, not many runners have been killed while taking part in the event. Since 1924, just 15 people have died; before this year, the last to be fatally gored was a 22-year-old American, Matthew Tassio, in 1995. In 2003, a 63-year-old Pamplona native, Fermin Etxeberri, died after he was trampled on the head. Foreigners, many of whom rely on Dutch courage to take part, are said to be more likely to get injured than locals. Between 200 and 300 people are injured every year but only 3% of injuries are serious, according to city authorities. The majority of injuries occur when a runner is trying to get up from a fall. Guidelines recommend that a runner who slips or falls should stay down until an onlooker signals it is safe to get up.

GREATER SAFETY

Antislip paint on the streets among new measures

Extra safety measures have been introduced in recent years. Large numbers of security guards and first aid personnel line the cobbled streets. Spectators watching from the sidelines are protected by fortified wooden barricades and the streets are coated with antislip paint to reduce the number of bulls and runners falling over. The 2008 run was deemed the safest in the past 10 years. Animal rights activists have long been opposed to the run, which they say is cruel and unsafe. Peta (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is calling on Spain to end this “violent spectacle and relegate it to the history books”. The organisation holds a yearly nude protest ahead of the run to highlight the bulls’ suffering.

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