US media mogul Ted Turner hospitalized “under observation” in Argentine capital

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – American media mogul Ted Turner has been hospitalized for an undisclosed ailment in Argentina’s capital.

Turner Enterprises spokesman Phillip Evans in Atlanta said the CNN founder was hospitalized in South America and that “no further details will be provided.”

CNN’s news desk, however, tweeted that Turner was “under observation” Friday at a hospital in Buenos Aires.

A security guard at the Instituto Argentino de Diagnostico y Tratamiento confirmed to The Associated Press that Turner was hospitalized there. Speaking on condition of anonymity because of hospital policy, he said the institute’s director told him that Turner’s companions had asked to release no information about his condition.

The 75-year-old billionaire was first treated earlier Friday at the San Carlos Sanatorium in Bariloche, near his ranch in Argentina’s Patagonia region. A spokeswoman there who gave her name only as Marina told the AP that Turner left that clinic after about four hours.

Turner owns 14 ranches in the United States and three in Argentina, including “La Primavera,” a 11,000-acre ranch along the Traful river in Argentina’s Nahuel Huapi National Park. The ranch hosts private expeditions and boasts some of the world’s best trout fishing and hunting. Wild animals include deer, boar, quail, mountain lions and birds. Some of his neighbours complained that they have been prevented them from accessing the river as it runs through his property, a claim his local management denied.

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Associated Press Cameraman Cristian Kovadloff contributed to this story.