American Among Those Gored Seriously At Running Of The Bulls In Pamplona, Spain

U.S. runner Bill Hillmann, 35, from Chicago is carried on a stretcher after being gored on his right leg by a Victoriano del Rio ranch fighting bull during the running of the bulls of the San Fermin festival, in Pamplona, Spain, Wednesday, July 9, 2014. A journalist and author, Hillmann is a veteran San Fermin runner and has written many pieces about the festival. The injury was said to be serious but his life was not in any danger. Revelers from around the world arrive in Pamplona every year to take part on some of the eight days of the running of the bulls glorified by Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel "The Sun Also Rises." (AP Photo/M.J. Arranz)

PAMPLONA, Spain (AP) – Fighting bulls gored an American and a Spaniard in a hair-raising third day of the running of the bulls at Spain's San Fermín festival on Wednesday.

A Navarra regional government statement said the American, a 32-year-old from Chicago identified only by his initials B.H., was gored in the right thigh. It said the injury was serious but not life-threatening.

British journalist Alexander Fiske-Harrison said the American was his friend and co-author Bill Hillmann, a longtime Pamplona bull-runner who has written about the festival. Hillmann underwent surgery "but he is doing well," Fiske-Harrison wrote on his blog.

In addition, a 35-year-old Spaniard with the initials J.R.P was in serious condition after being gored in the chest, the government statement said.

Three other Spaniards who fell during the run were being treated in Pamplona hospitals for their injuries.

Several thousand people, many dressed in the traditional white with red neckerchiefs, took part in the nationally televised 8 a.m. run in which they race six fighting bulls and accompanying steer along a 930-yard course from a holding pen to Pamplona's bull ring.

Tension soared when one bull got separated from the pack in the final 100 meters and tried to charge runners on all sides.

Fifteen people have died from gorings since record-keeping began in 1924. Dozens of people are injured each year in the runs, most of them in falls.

The bulls are invariably killed in afternoon bullfights.

The nine-day street party was immortalized in Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel "The Sun Also Rises" and attracts thousands of foreign tourists every year.