Pamplona Running of the Bulls 2014: Seven people injured on fifth day of annual festival

No one was gored during Friday's 'encierros', but some people were trampled

"Mozos" or runners are crowded together as bulls from the "Jarandilla" ranch travel down La Estafeta street during the fifth bull run at the San Fermin festival in Pamplona

Seven people have been injured, including an American and a Briton, on the fifth day of the annual running of the bulls in Pamplona, northern Spain.

The Spanish Red Cross said no one was gored in the reckless run on Friday, but many runners could be seen slipping and falling on top of each other on the wet, cobblestone route. Some were trampled on by the half-tonne beasts.

A Navarra regional government statement said a 48-year-old man from New York was treated for light head injuries, as was a 46-year-old man from Paisley, Scotland.

It said five Spaniards were also treated in city hospitals for minor injuries sustained the race.

Meanwhile a 23-year-old British man, who is recovering in hospital in Spain after he was trampled on Tuesday morning, said he was in “agony”.

Tom Hadfield, who suffered four fractured ribs and a punctured lung, told the Press Association: “I've never experienced pain like this before."

He added: "I think a few of them trampled me. It's a miracle they didn't crush my skull or break my back."

Hadfield is expected to remain in hospital for the rest of this week before flying home and returning to work.

In the early morning runs, which take place during the San Fermin festival, hundreds of people test their agility and bravery by racing with six fighting bulls along a 930-yard (850-metre) course from a holding pen to the city's bull ring.

Dozens of people are injured each year in the “encierros,” as the runs are called in Spanish, most of them in falls.

Fifteen people have died from gorings since record-keeping began in 1924.

Four Spaniards and an American have been gored so far in this year's festival but only one, a Spaniard, was said to be in serious condition.

The runs are the highlight of the nine-day street-partying festival, which was immortalized in Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises. The festival attracts tens of thousands of foreign tourists.

Additional reporting by agencies