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One of the two men gored at the second annual Running of the Bulls festival in Pamplona today co-authored a book titled: ‘Fiesta: How to Survive the Bulls of Pamplona.’

Boxer-turned-writer Bill Hillmann, 35, from Chicago, US, who was gored at the same festival in 2014, tweeted: "I got gored this morning but I'm fine."

Three years ago, he co-authored the book about the running of the bulls and in 2015, he returned to the festival despite being gored.

Hospital bosses have confirmed a 22-year-old American, described as the most seriously injured of the 10 people hurt at today’s morning run, was the man filmed being thrown up in the air and then dragged along the ground and trampled by several bulls near Pamplona’s town hall.

A spokesman for Humane Society International said after the dramatic run: “The injuries of Pamplona participants are regrettable, but let's not forget that these bulls are not deliberately hurting anyone.

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"They are terrified, forced to run through the streets surrounded by jeering revellers, their hooves slipping on the cobbles as they are terrorised for fun.

“At the end of their ordeal they will be killed.

If only we were as shocked by the needless anguish and death of these beautiful creatures as we are by the wounds of misguided tourists who put themselves in harm's way by taking part in animal cruelty."

The second run of this year’s world-famous San Fermines festival started in dramatic fashion with one runner being flown into the air as a lone bull charged people in its path just seconds after the start.

The man, believed to be a tourist, was then dragged along cobblestones under the hooves of half-ton animals.

The incident - the most dramatic of this morning’s run - ended with him lying motionless on the ground in a white T-shirt, jean shorts and trainers.

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The nine-day Spanish fiesta became world famous with Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises and attracts thousands of foreign tourists.



Yesterday, Red Cross officials said two men had been gored - one in the scrotum and another in the chest - during the first run.

Shocking TV pictures showed one man being upended by a black bull before being hurled high in the air and smashed back down on the ground.

Another was hoisted in the air by his white trousers and left dangling upside down for several seconds on the end of another bull’s horn.

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This morning, officials said two people had been gored - one in the backside and one in the arm - and another three people were on their way to hospital.

One was said to have suffered head injuries. The casualties were expected to rise through this morning.

Today’s incident occurred as five of the six fighting bulls sprinted along the half-mile course through the old town of the northern Spanish city of Pamplona, it became apparent the other one had turned round and headed back to its pen in a moment of confusion.

Herders had to bring out the bull - named Diputado in Spanish which means MP in English - using steers but it soon got in front of the animals guiding it along the course.

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It went for several runners in moments of tension that threatened to turn into tragedy as it reached the bullring at the end of the course - by now packed with revellers who had run in front of the other five fighting bulls way ahead of it.

Fortunately it was ushered into pens under the bullring by experts with capes, sparing onlookers serious injury or worse.

There was no immediate word on the condition of the man thrown into the air and dragged along the ground while he was trampled by the bulls.

Red Cross officials were pictured afterwards surrounding a man with a neck brace, but it was not clear if he was the one whose dice with death was filmed live on Spanish TV.

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Today’s run, involving bulls from the Jose Escolar breeding ranch in Avila just over an hour’s drive from Madrid, lasted four minutes because of the animal that became separated from the rest.

It was the third time bulls from the ranch have taken part in the festival, and the third time one of the ranch’s bulls has become separated from the rest of the pack in almost identical circumstances.

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Sixteen people have been killed at the annual festival since records began in 1910.

The most recent death was in 2009 when 27-year-old Daniel Jimeno, from Madrid, was gored in the neck by a bull called Capuchino.

Virtually all the revellers wear red and white during the festival.