Two injured at Pamplona`s fifth bull run

Pamplona: Hundreds of daredevils tested their bravery on Thursday by fleeing half-tonne fighting bulls through the winding streets of Pamplona in northern Spain in a run that sent two men to hospital.

No one was gored but a 20-year-old Spaniard and a 42-year-old American were taken to hospital with injuries after falling in the fifth bull run of the famed San Fermin festival, regional health officials said. Six bulls and six steers, castrated bulls that keep the herd together, charged through the narrow, cobbled streets of the city, clearing a path through a sea of runners mostly dressed in white with red handkerchiefs around their necks. "I was scared because the bulls ran quickly and it is hard to get in front of the horns," said 26-year-old Jaime Silvestre who came from the eastern Spanish city of Castellon with a group of friends to take part in the festival for the first time. The bulls from the Torrestrella ranch in the southern province of Cadiz, who are famous for being aggressive and have gored runners in Pamplona in the past, completed the 848.6-metre (928-yard) course from a holding pen to the city bull ring in two minutes and 47 seconds. "It was a complicated run because there were a lot of people and it was hard to get close to the bulls," said 39-year-old Santi Hernandez from the Madrid region who has taken part in the Pamplona bull runs since he was 19. People from around the world flock to the city of 200,000 residents to test their bravery and enjoy the nine-day festival`s mix of round-the-clock parties, religious processions and concerts. Fifteen people have been killed in the bull runs since records started in 1911. The fiesta ends on July 14. AFP