EUGENE — An Oregon cattle rancher has died after some cows got loose in the parking lot of the Eugene Livestock Auction and one tossed him into the air.

The Register-Guard reports that longtime Lane County rancher Mervin McCarl landed head-first on the pavement.

The owner of the weekly livestock auction, Bruce Anderson, called it a “horrible, horrible accident.”

Anderson said auction employees told him that three cows got loose as they were being loaded into a truck about 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

Anderson said McCarl, who was in his 70s, probably came over to help when one cow picked him up and tossed him. He died Sunday at a Springfield hospital.

— From wire reports