23-year-old undergoes surgery and four others taken to hospital after final run of San Fermín festival in Pamplona

This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

An Australian woman was seriously injured after being gored during the final bull run of this year's annual San Fermín festival in Pamplona, Spain. Four other runners were also taken to hospital after sustaining cuts and bruises.

The 23-year-old woman was gored in the back and undergoing surgery, a regional government statement said. She was only identified by her initials, JE.

The woman was struck by a massive Miura bull as she clung to wooden barriers yards outside the bullring entrance, said a regional health authority spokesman, Javier Sesma.

It is very rare for women to be gored since most of the runners are men. Javier Solano, a San Fermín expert working for the national broadcaster, TVE, said records showed only two other women had been injured by gorings in the recent history of the fiesta.

Other runners got tossed by the bulls or fell as they ran on Sunday. The other injured were a 39-year-old man from California, a 23-year-old man from Madrid and two other men from Navarre, according to a statement from the regional government, which organises the festivities. None of those injuries were classified as serious, the statement said.

Miura bulls are renowned as Spain's largest and fastest fighting bulls, and Sunday's run was quick, taking two minutes and 16 seconds to cover 850 meters from stables just outside Pamplona's medieval stone wall to the central bullring.

Despite the animals' size and muscle-bound appearance, experts admire Miuras for their explosive acceleration, stamina and grace, characteristics that inspired the late Italian carmaker Ferruccio Lamborghini to name one of his sports cars after the breed.

The San Fermín festival, which honours the patron saint of this northern city, dates back to the late 16th century and is also known for its all-night street parties where copious quantities of red wine from Navarre and Rioja are consumed and sprinkled around.

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