Death at Sanfermines

This year’s ‘Sanfermines’, the famous tradition of running with the bulls in Pamplona, has claimed one life, the first person to die at these festivities since 1995.

The accident occurred during the fourth ‘encierro’ (enclosure), which is when the bulls run through the streets towards the bullring where they will then be enclosed. During the same run, ten people were injured, eight of them by bulls horns.

The victim was gored in the neck by a bull called Capuchino on the last stretch of the run which took four minutes and a half.

This particular bull caused several moments of danger as he lagged behind the others and injured several runners. Paramedics rushed to the scene and found him to be in critical condition. An ambulance then took him to Navarra Hospital where he underwent surgery, but minutes after it was completed he died from a neck wound which had damaged his left lung and the major veins and arteries.

The last death at the Sanfermines was that of 62-year-old Fermin Etxeberria Irañeta from Pamplona in 2003. He had been running with the bulls since he was 14 years old. He was in hospital for two and a half months before he died.

There have been 15 deaths in total in the 87 years since the new Pamplona bullring was inaugurated in 1922. A 22-year-old American, Matthew Peter Tasio, died in 1995. In both 1947 and 1980, two people died during the Sanfermines.

Although other activities take place during the traditional festivities in honour of San Fermin, the most famous is obviously the running of the bulls.

It takes place every morning between July 7 and 14 at 8am. The bulls run 800 metres to the bullring, usually taking about three minutes.

Celebrations for San Fermin have been taking place since at least the XII century and were originally held in September, but in 1591 were changed to July because of the better weather conditions.

It was American writer Ernest Hemingway who made them famous throughout the world in his book ‘Fiesta’. During the week of the celebrations, the population of Pamplona, 190,000 people, sees an influx of up to three million.