With hoof towards head

Nervous horse “Toronto” kicked ORF cameraman

Cameraman Afshin Amin (61): "It was very close, I could have been dead."(Bild: © Harald Dostal / 2024)

An ORF employee from Mühlviertel was seriously injured by a stressed Noriker gelding while filming at the horse market in Obernberg am Inn (Upper Austria). The 61-year-old will probably be unable to work for weeks. The accident happened during the filming of the very last shot.

Afshin Amin can't laugh about the incident. The pain in his plastered right hand is too great. However, the Mühlviertel native is grateful to fate that nothing much worse happened to him. "I'm glad to still be alive," emphasizes the 61-year-old.

The self-employed cameraman was working for ORF at the horse market in Obernberg am Inn on Saturday. He filmed the parades of numerous beautifully decorated horses with their owners, as well as magnificent carriages. A spectacle that thousands of spectators did not want to miss.

Safety distance
Amin also wanted to film the award ceremony for his client. The 61-year-old, who used to own and ride horses himself, always kept a safe distance of around 2.5 meters.

"At first everything went well, then I just wanted to shoot one last shot," says the Iranian-born filmmaker. But that's when the accident happened. "I was standing next to a Noriker who suddenly turned his hindquarters and kicked out."

Afshin Amin has been working for ORF on and off for decades.(Bild: zVg)

Camera on shoulder
The hoof of the black gelding "Toronto" shot towards Amin's head at lightning speed: "Fortunately, I had the camera on my shoulder so that it and my hand were hit first and the force of the kick was absorbed."

The man from Mühlviertel staggered backwards in shock and could no longer move his hand. Amin suffered a fainting spell and had to sit down. A colleague and other first aiders supported him until the Red Cross arrived and transported him to Ried Hospital.

The metacarpal bone in his right hand was broken in the kick.(Bild: © Harald Dostal / 2024)

Broken bone
A broken metacarpal bone was diagnosed there. "I now have to wear a plaster cast for six weeks and then go to rehab for several more weeks. But if the bone doesn't grow together properly, I'll have to have another operation," sighs Amin, who is not angry with the horse: "I can understand that it was nervous - the noise and all the people obviously really stressed it out."