Miguel Toran had just passed a pair of hunters on his way but was then accidentally hit by a third a few yards later. Torna wore a colorful kit and wore a helmet as she trekked the Monte Orgergia forest trail, popular with horse riders and walkers. The hunter unloaded a cartridge containing hundreds of pellets and left Toran with impacts on the buttocks, lower back and legs. Fortunately, no major organs were affected, but paramedics later removed 20 pellets that had embedded themselves in Toran’s skin.
Local emergency services have been called and although the cyclist has not been taken to hospital, his injuries are being monitored by medics to see if further treatment is needed. The hunter told police that he confused the cyclist’s movement with that of a rabbit and admitted to shooting him with a cartridge, which contained a high number of pellets, which corroborated the victim’s testimony.
Toran thinks the incident was a real accident, but he is still considering filing a complaint against the hunter. The hunter had a shooting license but could still be accused of recklessness.
As hunters and mountain bikers share the same environment, incidents between the two groups have unfortunately already occurred, often with mountain bikers in a worse situation. In 2018, a British horseman was killed in Morzine by a stray bullet from a hunter and a similar tragic incident occurred in Lapland last year.