PAMPLONA, Spain — A bull gored two Britons and an American during the running of the bulls through the streets of the northern Spanish city of Pamplona today, officials said.

Thousands of daredevil runners charged ahead of six fighting bulls of the annual San Fermin festival today, when the three were gored by an animal that broke free from the pack just before entering the city’s bullring, a Navarre regional government statement said.

The bull charged the runners as they huddled on the ground beside a wooden fence, trying to protect themselves from the beast. After several moments of tension, the animal was lured away by stick-wielding cowherds. None of the three was seriously injured.

The morning runs are the highlight of the annual San Fermin festival, which became world famous with the publication of Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel “The Sun Also Rises.”