14 DAY TRIAL // A woman is currently in “very grave” condition in the hospital after being gored by a bull during the annual bull run in Pamplona, Spain.
The Telegraph reports that the 23-year-old visitor from Australia was charged by a bull in San Fermin, sustaining severe back injuries.
The festival has been long criticized for “tormenting and butchering” bulls, which are poked and hit, then sent out into the streets as onlookers try to escape being trampled and hit.
A lot of the streets in Pamplona are very narrow and sometimes tourists cannot find an escape path. News outlets have only identified the tourist from Australia by her initials J.E.
She was injured on the final day of the show, Sunday, July 14. One day earlier a 19-year-old resident of Spain was trampled when a door to the ring was only partially open, letting several bulls battling to get out.
Several festival goers were wounded on Saturday. The Independent adds that the bulls can weigh up to 650kg (1,400 pounds) and being trampled by them can be lethal.
The tradition has been around since the 13th century, but it became a favorite for tourists since it was mentioned by Ernest Hemingway in his 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises.
Six people have been gored this year during the festivities honoring Saint Fermin, patron of the Navarre region. 50 people in total have been admitted to local hospitals with wounds resulting from the bull running.
Deaths during the bull run have been reported as recently as 2009. In 2013, a 20-year-old student from Utah has been admitted to the hospital with severe wounds.
He underwent a surgical procedure for spleen removal and he is now stable. Another American tourist suffered a “rectal perforation,” but he is also recovering.