Spain king hurt in Botswana elephant hunting trip

MADRID (AP) ― Spain’s King Juan Carlos has successfully undergone hip replacement surgery after tripping on stairs and fracturing bones around the joint while on an elephant hunting trip in Botswana, officials said Saturday. It was the monarch’s fourth surgery in almost two years.

Botswana government spokesman Jeff Ramsay told the Associated Press that the 74-year-old was on a private visit up north in the Okavango area when he had the accident. “He was hunting for elephant. He has a permit,” the spokesman said.

The fall occurred early Friday morning in the chalet where the head of state was staying, said Angel Villamor, spokesman for San Jose hospital in Madrid where the king had his operation.

Juan Carlos

Juan Carlos flew back and was driven straight to hospital after landing, a royal palace spokesman said. The palace also released a statement saying the king had sustained “a fracture in three fragments of the right hip, associated with osteoarthritis of that joint.”

Spanish state broadcaster RTVE carried the news on its website accompanied by a photograph of the king, rifle in hand, standing next to a dead elephant while on a previous hunting trip with a Botswana-based safari company.

The latest incident drew criticism from some lawmakers at a time when Spain is on the verge of recession with close to 23 percent unemployment.

“It can’t be said the head of state is losing sleep over the many thousands of young people who are unemployed,” said Cayo Lara of the United Left party.

The surgery was the king’s fourth since May 2010. Previously, a benign tumor has been removed from one of his lungs, in June last year he also underwent surgery on his right knee and then in September he had an operation to repair Achilles tendon damage.