Bull Gores Runner
A runner is gored by a Miura fighting bull at Estafeta corner during the eighth running of the bulls of the San Fermin festival in Pamplona July 14, 2014. The festival, a heady mix of drinking, dancing, late nights and bullfights, made famous by Ernest Hemingway in his novel "The Sun Also Rises", runs for nine days until July 14. Two runners were treated after being gored following the run that lasted four minutes and forty seven seconds, according to local media. REUTERS/Vincent West (SPAIN - Tags: SOCIETY ANIMALS) Reuters

On the first day of Ciudad Rodrigo’s Carnaval del Toro, one of the many bull-running events that take place in various cities in Spain, a 20-year-old American suffered the biggest goring wound, according to a Spanish surgeon.

Benjamin Milley from Marietta, Georgia had wounds on his thigh that ran for 16 inches, sphincter and back muscles, according to surgeon Enrique Crespo from the Clinic Hospital in western Salamanca, reports AP.

The injured youth is a sophomore at the University of Mississippi, said a spokesman of the university, Time reports.

The incident happened on Saturday. Milley was gored and tossed by a large fighting bull, causing his confinement at the intensive care unit of the hospital. But he is now recovering, out of danger and unlikely to have further surgery.

Crespo said it is not the worst injury, but the biggest goring wound, which required three hours of surgery to repair the damages.

Besides Milley, two men from Scotland and Spain were also injured. Annually, the festival – which attracts foreign tourists – also results in several injuries, both runners and bullfighters, prompting critics to call the festival too dangerous.

Rodrigo has a standby helicopter with medical equipment as well as the services of world-renowned experts to attend to those injured every day during the four-day duration of the annual fiesta, said Rodrigo Councilor Pedro Munoz, reports the Telegraph.

For its 2015 feast, around 50,000 tourists arrived to participate in the bull-running and watch bullfights.

To contact the writer, email: v.hernandez@ibtimes.com.au