Day 4: One dead in Pamplona

[mount_oregano]

Capuchino, a 515-kilo/1,133 pound brown bull from the Jandilla Ranch came out of the corrals in Pamplona eager to attack, and he shed blood at the beginning and end of the encierro today. In all, 4 gorings, one fatal, all by Capuchino, and other injuries.

The fatal goring occurred in the Telefónica section of the run, the stretch just before the entrance to the bullring near the Telefónical offices. The young man was gored in the neck, and the horn reached down to the lungs, damaging a major artery and vein. Daniel Jimeno Romero, 27, from Alcalá de Henares, a city near Madrid, died after surgery.

The encierro took 4 minutes 29 seconds, and can be seen here:

TVE. The brown bull's second round of attacks appears in the second half of the video.
http://www.rtve.es/mediateca/videos/20090710/mortal-cuarto-encierro-sanfermines-2009/541646.shtml

Various videos from Cuatro television. One shows the young man being attended by Red Cross medics.
http://www.cuatro.com/deportes/videos/cuarto-encierro-ganaderia-jandilla/20090710ctoultpro_1/

Bulls from Jandilla hold the record for the number of gorings in one day, 8 on July 12, 2004. They're also among the fastest of the bulls. Capuchino separated himself immediately from the herd. The other bulls, all black, ran together like speeding locomotives but spread out enough to allow runners to get close for excellent runs. The black bulls reached the bullring within 1 minute 50 seconds.

They do not seem to have caused any gorings or injuries, but an attack or accident can happen so fast that it can be overlooked by observers. The number of injuries today grew during the hour after the run as more reports arrived from medics and more ambulances arrived at hospitals.

The last encierro death in Pamplona occurred in 2003, of head injuries sustained when the runner was run over by a Cebada Gago bull. There have been 15 deaths since 1922.

The bulls that run each morning are fought in the bullring each evening. Yesterday, the bullfighter known as El Cid was gored in the thigh and the scrotum, and was taken from the ring for surgery in the bullring operating room, and then to the hospital.

People ask me why I'm interested in the encierros. Well, it's the extreme behavior: courage and lunacy, deliberation and fatalism, frivolity and death — an intoxicating combination, with special emphasis on "toxic." You will notice that I do not run.

— Sue Burke