pamplona bullrun festival comes to close
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today
Arab Today, arab today
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today

Pamplona bull-run festival comes to close

Arab Today, arab today

Arab Today, arab today Pamplona bull-run festival comes to close

Pamplona - AFP

Spain's San Fermin festival, best known for its daily running of the bulls, came to an official close at midnight on Thursday during a candlelight ceremony attended by thousands of revellers. "People of Pamplona, the San Fermin festival is over. It has been spectacular, thanks to you it is the best festival in the world," Pamplona mayor Enrique Maya shouted from the balcony of city hall to cheers from the crowd. The revellers then sang a mournful song lamenting the end of the festivities called "Pobre de Mi", or "Poor Me", while raising candles into the air or holding up red scarves over their heads which they swayed from side to side as fireworks lit up the sky. Maya stood on the same balcony at noon on July 6 to declare the festival officially open, sparking frenzied scenes as the thousands of people who jammed into the square in front of city hall sprayed each other with sangria. Spain's best-known festival dates back to medieval times and it features religious procession, folk dancing, concerts and street drinking but the highlight is the morning bull runs held through Pamplona's cobbled streets. Half-tonne fighting bulls wounded three thrill-seekers in the final bull-run held on Thursday, bringing the overall tally of injured this year to 43, according to the regional government of Navarra of which Pamplona is capital. The six bulls and six steers charged 846.6 metres from a pen to the bullring in a quick two minutes 20 seconds in the eighth and last daily bull-run of a festival expected to have drawn more than a million tourists. Thousands of daredevils in white clothes and red bandanas packed around the animals on every bull-run of the festival, many dicing with danger by running just ahead of the bulls' horns. In the final run, three people tumbled and were hospitalised: a 21-year-old Frenchman with a shoulder injury, and two local Pamplona residents aged 43 and 54 with cuts and bruises to their heads. "The bull runs were very calm if you take into account the high risk that they involve," the regional government of Navarra's health minister, Marta Vera Janin, told a news conference. Last year 37 people were injured during San Fermin, including nine due to gorings -- a potentially lethal injury. In the most serious injury this year, a bull's horn sliced a 20-centimetre (eight-inch) deep wound into the side of 40-year-old Pamplona resident Mikel Sabate on Tuesday, piercing his diaphragm but missing vital organs. He remains in hospital after undergoing a three-hour operation but his life is not in danger. "When you are gored, you feel as if you have been stabbed, like a truck has run over you. My back was covered in blood, but those are the risks of the bull run," Sabate told reporters from his hospital bed after undergoing surgery. A bull's horn skewered another 41-year-old Spaniard in the arm on the same day. A 25-year-old Australian man was gored in his right thigh July 8 after he taunted a bull by jumping and flapping his arms behind it in the bullring. When the bull turned, he tumbled in the sand and was attacked. He also remains in hospital but is expected to be released on Friday. A 23-year-old Frenchman was gored July 9, but less seriously. Every year 200-300 participants in the run are injured, around three percent seriously. Most are hurt after falling but some are trampled or gored by the bulls despite increased safety measures. The last death occurred two years ago when a bull gored a 27-year-old Spaniard to death, piercing his neck, heart and lungs with its horns in front of hordes of tourists. Nobel prize-winning novelist Ernest Hemingway made the San Fermin famous around the world with "The Sun Also Rises," a novel based on his first visit to Pamplona in 1923. Festival turnout figures were not yet available but before the start of the event Pamplona officials predicted the city of some 200,000 residents would at least match last year's figure of 1.5 million people and a hotel occupancy rate of over 90 percent.

arabstoday
arabstoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

pamplona bullrun festival comes to close pamplona bullrun festival comes to close

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

pamplona bullrun festival comes to close pamplona bullrun festival comes to close

 



GMT 12:48 2016 Sunday ,27 November

Cilic, Dodig push Croatia to brink of Davis Cup

GMT 05:24 2017 Thursday ,28 December

Erdogan says 'terrorist' Assad cannot be part of Syria

GMT 12:59 2016 Saturday ,05 November

WB welcomes economic reforms in Egypt

GMT 18:40 2016 Saturday ,05 November

Egyptian GDRs in London down

GMT 10:57 2017 Wednesday ,06 December

Peru striker Guerrero has doping ban extended

GMT 17:51 2017 Tuesday ,07 March

Trump Signs New Travel Ban on Six Muslim Countries

GMT 10:30 2017 Wednesday ,06 September

Saudi Information Ministry praises media role during Hajj

GMT 15:29 2017 Tuesday ,24 January

Mind games really do help your brain

GMT 06:55 2015 Thursday ,01 October

Boston Red Sox beat Yankees

GMT 08:17 2017 Monday ,28 August

Bahrain celebrates World Humanitarian Day 2017

GMT 02:07 2017 Tuesday ,28 February

Opposition seeks Russian support at Syria talks
Arab Today, arab today
 
 Arab Today Facebook,arab today facebook  Arab Today Twitter,arab today twitter Arab Today Rss,arab today rss  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
arabstoday, Arabstoday, Arabstoday