A youth lays in a bath of tomato juice during the annual "Tomatina" tomato fight in the town of Bunol, near Valencia, eastern Spain, Wednesday Aug. 28 2002.

Tens of thousands of people stripped off their shirts and hurled tons of ripe, juicy tomatoes at each other in the annual Tomatina food fight, creating knee-deep rivers of tomato sauce on the streets of this Spanish town.

The festival, which has its roots in a food fight between childhood friends, is gaining in popularity. Wednesday's crowd numbered around 38,000 - more than four times the population of Bunol - and 8,000 more than last year, Spanish news agency Efe reported.

At noon, municipal trucks hauled in 132 tons of plum tomatoes and dropped them at the feet of the crowds in the main square of Bunol, a town 190 miles southeast of Madrid.

Within seconds, the square was covered in a sheen of red slime and clouds of tomato-colored mist as people threw, tossed, pitched and aimed the vegetables at everyone and everything.

The participants, including many women, had ripped off their shirts and many wore goggles to keep the tomatoes from stinging their eyes.

At 1 p.m., a rocket fired from the balcony signaled the end and Bunol residents uncoiled garden hoses to spray down the tomato tossers and the rest of the town.

The event has become something of a calling card for Bunol. The Tomatina, held the last Wednesday in August, is said to be the world's largest tomato fight.

Local legend claims the event began in the 1940s after a group of youngsters waged a food fight on the town square. They met again the next year and pelted each other - and passers-by, starting the tradition.

(Agencies)