A bull gored an Australian woman, causing serious injuries during the running of the bulls festival in Pamplona, Spain.
Confirming the incident, a spokeswoman from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) reported that the 23-year-old woman from NSW was hospitalized following her injury on Sunday, which occurred during the last bull run of this year’s annual San Fermin festival.
According to the regional government that organizes the festival, the woman, known only as J.E., was gored in the back, resulting in multiple rib fractures and damage to her right lung, which left her in “very grave” condition following an operation at Navarra Hospital.
On Sunday evening, the DFAT spokeswoman indicated that consular assistance was being provided by officers from the Australian embassy in Madrid.
The woman was hit by a large Miura bull while she was clutching wooden barriers near the entrance to the bullring, shared regional health authority spokesman Javier Sesma.
It is uncommon for women to be gored, as the majority of runners are male. Javier Solano, a San Fermin expert associated with national broadcaster TVE, noted that historical records have shown only two other instances of women injured by goring in the fiesta’s recent history.
Additionally, four other runners were hospitalized due to cuts and bruises.
Some runners were thrown by the bulls, while others fell while running. The injured included a 39-year-old man from California, a 23-year-old man from Madrid, and two other males from Navarra, as per a statement from the regional government overseeing the festivities. None of these injuries were deemed serious, the statement clarified.
Known as Spain’s largest and fastest fighting bulls, Miura bulls gained a reputation for their speed, with Sunday’s run covering 850 meters from stables located just outside Pamplona’s medieval stone wall to the central bullring in 2 minutes and 16 seconds.
Despite their massive size and muscular build, experts respect Miuras for their agility, explosive speed, and endurance—qualities that inspired the late Ferruccio Lamborghini to name one of his famous sports cars after this breed.
Dating back to the late 16th century, the San Fermin festival celebrates the patron saint of this northern city and is well-known for its all-night street parties, where large amounts of red wine from Navarra and Rioja are consumed and often spilled.
The festivities gained international fame thanks to Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel, The Sun Also Rises.
