(Pamplona, ESP) - Massive bulls gored three men Friday including a 20-year-old American in the bloodiest run of this year's San Fermin festival in Spain's northern city of Pamplona.
A 560-kilo (1,235-pound) brown bull called "Burrenote", part of the galloping herd of six sharp-horned bulls and six steers, charged the American at the start of the route, goring him in the abdomen.
The man clung to one of the beast's horns as it slipped under his white shirt and jabbed his belly.
He was holding on to a small black camera in his other hand. Festival organisers ban bull run participants from bringing cameras but many ignore the rule.
The man was rushed to hospital where doctors removed his spleen, regional health authorities said.
The run turned dangerous again when another bull, a 575-kilo black beast called "Langostero" or "Lobster Boat", separated from the pack and began charging into runners.
The lone bull charged one young man and tossed him around the ground in a 30-second tussle, causing the daredevil's pants to come off. The man hung on to a horn while two runners tried to pull the animal away by the tail.
Two others then grabbed the young man by the feet and pulled him to safety.
The bull gored the 31-year-old Spanish man three times -- in his right knee, his left calf and his groin.
The bull then charged a 42-year-old Spanish man, who was wearing a yellow t-shirt, near the entrance to the bull ring, goring him twice in his right arm and sending him reeling against the wooden barrier that lines the route.
The two Spanish men also underwent surgery to treat their injuries.
An isolated bull is considered a more dangerous beast because it can become disoriented and is more likely to charge runners.
Another three people, including a 48-year-old American, were taken to hospital with injuries suffered in falls during the sixth bull run of the hugely popular festival.
"A lot of people fell along the route, it was really dangerous," Alan Carpenter, a 38-year-old banker from Chicago, told AFP outside the entrance to Pamplona's bull ring after taking part in his third Pamplona bull run.
Hundreds of runners, most dressed in white with red kerchiefs, joined in the 848.6-meter (928-yard) dash through city's winding, cobbled streets from a corral to the bull ring.
Some dared to run just an arm's length in front of the bulls, glancing nervously behind at their dangerous curved horns while others chased behind the pack in the run watched live by millions on Spanish TV.
The six bulls from the El Pilar ranch in the province of Salamanca completed the course in four minutes and 57 seconds, the slowest bull-fun so far this year.
The animals will be killed by matadors in an afternoon bullfight.
Sixteen first aid posts are set up along the route -- roughly one every 53 metres -- each with its own ambulance to whisk the more seriously injured to hospital if needed.
In total 21 men have been sent to hospital during the six bull runs held so far this year.
Dozens of other participants have been treated at the scene for scrapes and bruises.
The early morning bull runs are the highlight of the San Fermin festival, which was immortalized in Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel "The Sun Also Rises" and now draws hundreds of thousands of tourists.
Fifteen people have been killed in the bull runs since records started in 1911.
The most recent death took place four years ago when a bull gored a 27-year-old Spaniard in the neck, heart and lungs.
The festival ends on Sunday.
