American gored by bull in Spain out of intensive care

By: 10 years ago

In this photo taken on Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015, Benjamin Miller, 20, from Georgia, in the US, centre is helped by revelers after being gored by a bull during the "Carnaval del Toro" in Ciudad Rodrigo, Spain. An American youth is recovering in the intensive-care unit of a hospital in western Salamanca after being savagely gored during a bullfighting festival celebrating Carnival, officials said Sunday. Surgeon Enrique Crespo said he was called to operate on 20-year-old Benjamin Miller from Georgia, who had been gored and tossed by a large fighting bull on Saturday, the first day of nearby Ciudad Rodrigo's "Carnaval del Toro." (AP Photo/ Jose Vicente)

In this photo taken on Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015, Benjamin Miller, 20, from Georgia, in the US (center) is helped by revelers after being gored by a bull during the “Carnaval del Toro” in Ciudad Rodrigo, Spain. The American youth is recovering in the intensive-care unit of a hospital in western Salamanca after being savagely gored during a bullfighting festival celebrating Carnival, officials said Sunday. AP

MADRID, Spain — A 20-year-old American man who was badly gored during a bull-running festival is out of intensive care and improving, a spokesman for the Clinic Hospital in western Salamanca said Monday.

The hospital spokesman identified the man as Benjamin Miller and said he was out of danger and not likely to have to undergo any further operations. He spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with hospital rules.

However, Tom Eppes, a spokesman for the University of Mississippi, confirmed Monday that Benjamin Milley, originally from Marietta, Georgia, and a sophomore at the school, is the injured man.

Family members could not be immediately reached on Monday.

The man suffered several wounds, including a 40-cm (16-inch) goring in the thigh, when he was caught by a fighting bull during a festival in the nearby town of Ciudad Rodrigo on Saturday.

Images showed the 20-year-old being repeatedly tossed by the bull and in obvious pain at being gored and pushed along the ground. Helpers eventually managed to pull him up from the street to safety.

Fiestas featuring bulls are common in Spain and many people are injured each year. Spain’s most famous bull-running event is in the San Fermin festival in Pamplona.

In the runs, hundreds of people test their bravery and speed by dashing ahead of bulls through the streets to a town’s bull ring.

Towns normally have special medical units ready to attend those injured in the festivals.

Ciudad Rodrigo town councilor Pedro Munoz said two other unidentified men — a man from Scotland and a Spaniard — had sustained less serious goring injuries during Saturday’s events.