Ole Miss student gored by bull in Spain

MADRID - An American university student who was repeatedly gored and tossed by a fighting bull last weekend is improving but remains shaken after the experience, a spokesman the Clinic Hospital in the western city of Salamanca said Tuesday.

The spokesman said that University of Mississippi sophomore Benjamin Milley, 20, was not ready to talk publicly but was in contact by telephone with his family. The spokesman said he was accompanied by friends at the hospital.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with hospital rules.

Milley 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 him being repeatedly tossed by the beast and in obvious pain at being gored and pushed along the ground. He was eventually pulled to safety.

Milley was operated on for nearly three hours before being taken to the Salamanca hospital.

Ole Miss Director of Public Relations Danny Blanton said that Milley is an economics and Spanish major who was studying abroad in Salamanca with the university's International Education of Students program.

Milley's family has not immediately returned communications by The Clarion-Ledger seeking comment.

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 July.

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

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

Spanish officials initially identified the student's last name as Miller but confirmed Tuesday it was Milley after university officials said Milley, from Marietta, Georgia, was a student there and was the person injured.

Clarion-Ledger staff writer Therese Apel contributed to this report.