23 injured in Pamplona as bull run ends in a stampede by the revelers

PAMPLONA, Spain — The penultimate bull run of Spain's San Fermin
festival left at least 23 people injured Saturday, when thrill-seekers
fleeing the beasts were crushed at the narrow entrance to the
bullring, officials said. An American citizen from Ohio was one of two
runners gored.

As the huge animals thundered into the entrance of the tunnel, they
were blocked by a mound of dozens of people who had fallen and were
piled on top of one other.
One bull that had fallen before the entrance got up and charged into
the clogged passageway. Two steers jumped over the pile of people as
they began to get up and flee.

"I felt anguish and helplessness for the people trapped there, not
knowing how to get out," said Jesus Lecumberri, 20, a student with
several years' experience running at Pamplona and other bull-running
festivals.

Lecumberri said he had charged in to the entrance alongside the first
bull, but saw the pileup and quickly dived into a ground-level hatch
built into the passage specifically to provide an escape route from
situations like this.

A gate normally used to let regional police into ringside positions
had been accidentally pushed wide open by a flood of runners, causing
an obstruction for others trying to enter the main arena, Interior
Ministry regional spokesman Javier Morras said.

"We all know that alley is a funnel and a critically dangerous point
at the entrance to the ring," Morras said. "Pileups there are one of
the biggest risks that can occur in the running of the bulls," he
said.

The blockage ended after attendants managed to let the beasts escape
through a side door normally reserved for matadors.

Javier Sesma, a health spokesman for Navarra province, said two of the
23 injured people were gored by bulls and that the others were hurt in
the stampede.

Sesma said one runner, a 19-year-old Spaniard from Vitoria city, was
seriously injured when his thorax was crushed, causing him to stop
breathing at the bull ring entrance. An Irish citizen also had
problems breathing because of the weight of people on top of him.

"His situation remains very grave, but he appears to be evolving
favorably," Sesma said of the Spaniard. "We are hopeful. His life was
at risk, but he is now more stable."

The American gored Saturday is a 35-year-old from Cleveland, Ohio, who
is being identified only by the initials I.L., hospital officials
said. A 19-year-old Spaniard from the city of Azpeitia was gored in an
armpit during the 928-yard (850-meter) dash through Pamplona's narrow
streets, a statement said.

The American was undergoing surgery Saturday afternoon after suffering
a "rectal perforation," the Navarra government, which organizes the
annual festivities, said in a statement.

One of those gored had received treatment in one of the two operating
rooms at the bullring, Sesma said. The rest of the injured sustained
cuts and bruises.

Sesma said one spectator had a heart attack while watching the
stampede. By late afternoon, 16 of the injured had been discharged
from hospitalization, Sesma said.

On Friday, the festival drew widespread attention when an American
college student and two Spaniards were gored, and videos and photos of
the attacks were seen around the world.

The American patient, 20-year-old Patrick Eccles, a student at the
University of Utah, was said to be improving in a hospital Saturday.
"He is evolving favorably but, logically, has had a severe goring and
is still weak," hospital spokeswoman Marta Borruel said.

Javier Solano, a San Fermin expert working for national broadcaster
TVE, said the first recorded pileup happened in 1878, and that two
such blockages — in 1975 and 1977 — had led to several deaths.

The number of revelers attending the festival tends to swell at
weekends, causing the narrow streets of Pamplona to be thronged with
runners, increasing the risk of pileups and injuries.

The festival in this northern city dates back to the late 16th century
and also is known for its all-night street parties.

The runs, eight in all, are the highlight of a nine-day street
festival to honor Pamplona's patron saint, San Fermin.

Each morning, six fighting bulls and six bell-tinkling steers that try
to keep the beasts together head from stables to the ring where
matadors will star in late afternoon bullfights.

The festivities, which end Sunday, were made famous by Ernest
Hemingway's 1926 novel "The Sun Also Rises."

The fiesta attracts tens of thousands of young people, many from
abroad, eager to mix alcohol with the adrenaline of running alongside
the massive bulls at 8 o'clock every morning.

Dozens of people are injured each year, with gorings often producing
the most dramatic injuries.

The last fatal goring happened in 2009.