PAMPLONA, July 7 — Six people were injured early today, none of them seriously, in the first bull running race of Spain’s San Fermin festival, medics said.

"Six people were taken to hospital” for injuries to the face or limbs from falling or being trampled during the first race of the festival in the northern city of Pamplona, Red Cross spokesman Jose Aldaba told Spain’s public television.

The bull runs, where thousands turn out to watch or join a group of half-tonne bulls racing through narrow cobbled streets, traditionally begin on July 7 and take place every morning at 8am (0600 GMT/2pm Malaysian time) for eight days.

"None of the injuries seem to be serious,” Aldaba said.

"For a July 7th, which is still one of the most crowded, it has been a ‘clean’ run.”

Bull-running events are a highlight of summer festivities across Spain, with the best known being the San Fermin festival which was made famous by Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises.

Sixteen people have died in the San Fermin bull runs since 1911. The last death occurred in 2009 when a bull gored a 27-year-old Spaniard. — AFP