American gored by bull in Spain out of intensive care

MADRID, Spain -- A Spanish hospital says 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 that 20-year-old Benjamin Miller from Georgia was out of danger and not likely to have to undergo any further operations.

Miller suffered several wounds, including a 40-cm (16-inch) goring in the thigh, when he was caught by a fighting bull on the first day of nearby Ciudad Rodrigo's "Carnaval del Toro."

"It's not the worst injury I've seen, but it's the biggest goring wound I've ever had to operate on," Crespo told The Associated Press.

Miller underwent a three-hour operation to repair damage to thighs, sphincter and back muscles, Crespo said.

Town councilor Pedro Munoz said two other unidentified men had sustained less serious goring injuries during Saturday's events.

"One man from Scotland and a Spaniard from Salamanca were also injured," 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 standby every day of our annual fiesta," 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, that includes afternoon bullfights and bull-running events.

Ciudad Rodrigo - population 14,000 - is a small cathedral city close to the Portuguese border that is a popular tourist destination. It retains its ancient defensive walls and was the site of key battles between Napoleon's army and British forces under the command of the Duke of Wellington from 1810 to 1812.