Now, this is very sad news on the last weekend of the year. Former Formula One World champion Michael Schumacher has been seriously hurt in a skiing accident in the French Alps, according to reports from the French media.
French media organisation Europe 1 reported that he has been taken to a hospital with a head injury. The accident reportedly happened while he was skiing in the French resort of Meribel in the popular Three Valleys ski area. It has been known that he has been taken to Grenoble Hospital by helicopter.
Christophe Gernignon-Lecomte, director general of Meribel ski resort, told radio station RMC: “For the moment I don’t know the severity of the injury. The gendarmes are at the scene investigating how the accident happened. He was taken by helicopter to Grenoble Hospital. I don’t know if it happened on piste or off piste. I can’t tell how serious his injury is.”
The 44 year old German driver owns a chalet in Meribel and is a keen skiier. Michael Schumacher retired from Formula 1 for a second time in December last year. The German driver made a disappointing return to the sport after making his comeback in 2010, managing only one podium finish during his three years with Mercedes racing team.
Michael arrived at the Grenoble hospital in an agitated state and was not responding to questions. He was placed in an artificial coma while doctors tried to reduce the pressure on his brain. An operation eliminated the hematoma but revealed "various bilateral lesions" which indicated the accident took place at high speed. This suggests he was, as initially reported, skiing on "The Mauduit" (a black run named after one of Meribel’s great skiers Georges Mauduit, World Champion in 1966). For the present doctors are working to keep his body temperature around 35 degrees and are trying to reduce outside stimuli while feeding oxygen to his brain.