Fruity students get melons out

Fruity students got their melons out to save themselves from a pasting at the world's biggest annual food fight.

But the hollowed out helmets gave little protection as fun-lovers painted the Spanish town of Bunol red with hundreds of tons of overripe tomatos.

More than 12, 000 kilograms of tommies were squashed and hurled to honour the town's patron saint, St. Luis Bertran.

Locals say the tom-foolery began in the 1940s when a food battle broke out between youngsters near a vegetable stand on the town square.

Ketchup with the chaos below: