(Image source from: Michael Schumacher fighting for life})
Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher is believed to be in a very, very critical condition after he suffered a terrible fall while skiing off-piste with his 14-year old son Mick in Meribel resort in the Trois Vallees ski area of the French Alps.
The ex-F1 German racer hit his head on a rock and went consciousness briefly. Eyewitnesses present in the scene saw blood trickling out of his helmet and at once alerted the company officials. He was airlifted to the Centre Universitaire hospital in Genoble, French Alps where he is being treated now. Medical sources confirm that the 44-year old ex-F1 racer has suffered brain haemorrhage and is in coma now.
Last night the Dauphine Libere newspaper in Grenoble reported that “The state of health of the veteran driver has worsened and his condition is considered life-threatening, according to our information.”
He was skiing at an altitude of almost 7,000ft at an 'off-piste junction' between two marked descents – Chamois, a red run, and Biche, a blue run when the accident took place.
Olivier Desaulty, a spokesman for Meribel Alpina, a ski lift company, said: 'Some skiers saw the accident and called us. We immediately sent two ski patrols who were close by. They checked him and called a helicopter. Apparently he was briefly – a minute or so – unconscious. But he came around quickly and was then talking. He said he had hit his head on a rock. He was wearing a helmet fortunately. The helicopter arrived very quickly and he was taken to hospital.”
A spokesman for mountain rescue said: 'He fell and hit his head at 11.07am. A helicopter was at the site at 11.15am. A doctor specialising in emergencies was on board and treated him immediately. He was in shock. He was then airlifted to the hospital in Moûtiers. He arrived at 11.53am and underwent tests but the accident was considered serious enough for him to be transferred to the larger hospital in Grenoble at 12.45pm.It was a relatively serious trauma to the head. It was quite serious, particularly because it is a head injury.'
Gerard Saillant, one of Paris' leading neurologists and a close friend of Schumacher rushed at the hospital, the CHU de Grenoble to treat him.
All night, Schumacher's wife, Corinna, daughter Gina-Marie, 16, and son Mick were in the hospital.
(Inside Image Source and some inputs from the Daily Mail UK)
AW: Suchorita Dutta Choudhury
