A 47-year-old American tourist ended up hospitalized in Italy after getting impaled on the spike of a metal fence he was climbing at the Colosseum in Rome.
The tourist, possibly trying to get a closer look at the ancient landmark, tried to climb over the fence on Friday, only to get impaled. The man, who has not been publicly identified, is a U.S. citizen and resident of Taiwan, according to Italian news Il Messaggero.
Unable to free himself, the tourist lost a significant amount of blood and was screaming in pain until finally losing consciousness to hang limply from the fence spike. The man was impaled in his lower back area near his spine, according to Il Messaggero.
“It was terrible. I saw that man impaled on a fence and he couldn’t free himself,” another unidentified tourist told the Italian newspaper.
After sedating the man, Italian first responders were able to remove him from the fence and take him to a hospital. As of Sunday, he remained hospitalized and his life was no longer in danger.
Italian authorities are working to determine exactly what happened after finally being able to get testimony from the victim Sunday. The rest of his traveling party was unable to provide an explanation of how he got impaled, according to Il Messaggero.
