Pamplona bull-runners are tossed around and trampled with at least three injured under the hooves of rampaging animals as famed festival begins

Published: 08:57, 7 July 2026 | Updated: 08:58, 7 July 2026 At least three people have been rushed to hospital on the first proper day of the famous Running of the Bulls festival in Spain. Medics confirmed the initial casualty toll this morning 20 minutes after runners risked their lives putting themselves in front of six fighting bulls led by six steers as they sprinted along the half-mile run through the streets of Pamplona’s old town. The three people taken to hospital, all men, were a 61-year-old American and two Spaniards aged 20 and 34. The American suffered a head injury but hospital chiefs said this morning it was not serious. The 20-year-old from Segovia suffered a leg injury and the 34-year-old, from the Basque province of Biscay, an ankle injury. A fourth person hurt in the bull ring was treated at the scene, with later reports saying a fifth had received medical attention but was not expected to require hospital treatment. There were no gore injuries. Overnight it emerged a man had died late last night in a bar on Estafeta Street in Pamplona, which forms part of the course. He collapsed and went into cardiac arrest around 10.30pm. His nationality is not yet known. He was thought to have been aged around 70. His death at this stage is being linked to natural causes. Bull runners risked their lives this morning as they dashed alongside the massive animals in the first proper day of San Fermin in Pamplona At least three people have been rushed to hospital on the first proper day of the famous Running of the Bulls festival in Spain This morning’s 8am run, which lasted two minutes and 16 seconds, was the first of eight so-called encierros which form the highlight of the festival The famous festival in the northern Spanish town kicked off at midday yesterday with the traditional San Fermin opening ceremony called the Chupinazo, with thousands of revellers dressed in the must-wear white outfits with a red bandana around their necks ending up soaked in wine and sangria. This morning’s 8am run, which lasted two minutes and 16 seconds and ended with the animals being guided into pens after reaching the town’s bull ring, was the first of eight so-called encierros which form the highlight of the festival. The animals were from the Fuente Ymbro farm in Spain’s south-west province of Cadiz, which last year also opened the famous festival including one called Zalagarda which was the heaviest of the 2025 bull runs and weighed in at a whopping 610 kilos which is 96 stone. Sixteen people have been killed during the bull runs at the annual festival, which finishes on July 14 and was made famous by 1926 Ernest Hemingway novel ‘The Sun Also Rises’, since records began in 1910. The most recent death was in 2009 when 27-year-old Daniel Jimeno, from Madrid, was gored in the neck by a bull called Capuchino. Runners ducked for cover and risked getting trampled by the ginormous bulls as they tore through the streets of Pamplona Fallen runners curled into balls and tried to cover their heads from the bulls' hooves Others did not react so quickly and were caught between the legs of the massive animals The run ends with the animals being guided into pens after reaching the town’s bull ring - but before entering the bulls they must cross a row of people lying down Runners can then enter the ring and try to engage with the bulls, which often becomes violent Thousands of San Fermin revellers dressed in the must-wear white outfits with a red bandana around their necks - often ending up soaked in wine and sangria Several foreigners, from Australians to Americans through to Brits and Irish, are normally among the injured.  The first of the eight encierros in 2024 took place four hours after a San Fermin reveller collapsed and died.