American man badly gored during bull run 'improving'

A 20-year-old American man who was badly gored during a bull-running festival is out of intensive care and improving, a Spanish hospital has said.

A spokesman for the Clinic Hospital in western Salamanca said today that Benjamin Miller, from Georgia, was out of danger and not likely to have to undergo any further operations.

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

Surgeon Enrique Crespo, who carried out a three-hour operation on Mr Miller, said: “It’s not the worst injury I’ve seen, but it’s the biggest goring wound I’ve ever had to operate on.

Town councillor Pedro Munoz said two other unidentified men had suffered less serious goring injuries during Saturday’s events.

“One man from Scotland and a Spaniard from Salamanca were also injured,” Mr Munoz said.

Fiestas featuring bulls are common in Spain, and critics and aficionados alike agree that the events, which attract international audiences, are dangerous.

“Doctor Crespo is a world-renowned expert and we have a medically-equipped helicopter on stand-by every day of our annual fiesta,” Mr Munoz said.

He said somewhere between 45,000 and 50,000 people had been attracted over the weekend to this year’s four-day fiesta, which includes afternoon bullfights and bull-running events.

Ciudad Rodrigo – population 14,000 – is a small cathedral city close to the Portuguese border which is a popular tourist destination.