Pamplona bull run: Three men gored in head, scrotum and stomach respectively during annual festival

Spaniard undergoing surgery for serious injuries after being tossed by animal

Bulls chase runners during the annual Pamplona festival in 2016

Two Americans and a Spaniard were gored Friday during the first running of the bulls of this year's San Fermin festival, medical officials in the northern Spanish city of Pamplona said.

A 46-year-old Spanish man was undergoing surgery for serious injuries to his head and leg after he was gored and then tossed by a bull.

Hospital officials said that two men from the United States had been gored as well during the run but their injuries — in the abdomen for a 35 year-old man and in the scrotum for a 29 year-old — were not considered serious.

More runners were treated on the spot for bruises, a Red Cross spokesman said, as two of the animals separated from the other four in the pack on their way to Pamplona's bullring.

They completed the 930-yard (850-metre) cobbled-street course in just under three minutes, a speed that is considered average for the run.

Friday's bulls came from the Cebada Gago ranch, famed as fierce because they have traditionally caused more injuries. Since they debuted in Pamplona's narrow streets, in 1985, bulls from this southern Spanish breeding family have gored 53 people.

The nine-day San Fermin fiesta was immortalized by Nobel Literature laureate Ernest Hemingway in his 1926 novel "The Sun Also Rises."

Associated Press