Schumacher 'fell at high speed'

MICHAEL Schumacher's taste for speed may have been responsible for the skiing accident that has left him in a coma and fighting for his life.

Schumacher 'fell at high...

MICHAEL Schumacher's taste for speed may have been responsible for the skiing accident that has left him in a coma and fighting for his life.

The seven-time Formula One motor racing champion is believed to have been skiing in powder snow between two prepared pistes at between 60km/h and 100km/h in the French resort of Meribel when he fell and hit his head on a rock, a source close to the accident investigation said.

Surgeons said yesterday that Schumacher, an experienced skiier who turns 45 on Friday, remained in a critical condition after undergoing brain surgery.

He has been put in an artificial coma with his body temperature kept below 35C and has lesions and a hematoma on his brain. His doctors said the following two days would be critical in determining his chances of survival.

Schumacher's wife, Corinna, and their children, Mick, 14, and Gina-Maria, 16, remained with him at Grenoble's university hospital. A family statement said: "We would like to thank the medical team who we know do everything possible to help Michael. We would like to also thank the people from all around the world who have expressed their sympathy and sent their best wishes for Michael's recovery."

Doctors said that without his helmet, which split under the impact of the crash, the world's most successful racing driver would be dead.

However, the source said that for his helmet to break on impact, he would have been travelling at high speed. "He must have been going fast. In order to split your helmet, you need to be doing at least 60km/h and more probably something closer to 100km/h. Speed was almost certainly a factor here," the source added.

Current F1 world champion and fellow German Sebastian Vettel told Bild: "I hope that he gets better as quickly as possible. I wish his family much strength."

Graphic: Schumacher's fight for life

Chancellor Angela Merkel said she and millions of Germans were extremely shocked.

The F1 hero, his wife and children had travelled from their mansion in Gland in Switzerland to spend the festive season in their chalet in Meribel. All plans for his 45th birthday party on Friday have been abandoned.

Stephan Chabardes, the neurosurgeon who operated on Schumacher, said: "The next 24 or 48 hours will be decisive. He was operated upon in a serious condition with a serious, severe brain trauma. We are following the evolution hour by hour. He is in a critical condition. The operation was to evacuate the hematoma that could be evacuated.

"Now we need to protect his brain."

The accident happened on Sunday, when Schumacher and his son were skiing beside authorised pistes called Georges Mauduit and La Biche. However, he veered into an unauthorised zone between the two, which is where the accident happened.

About 40cm of snow had fallen overnight, and the rock that he struck with the right side of his head was all but hidden.

Rescue workers reached Schumacher within three minutes and he was airlifted to the nearby Moutiers Hospital less than a quarter of an hour later. Within an hour, the decision had been taken to transfer him to the hospital in Grenoble, which has the capacity to treat more serious ski injuries.

Jean-Francois Payen, head of the intensive care department at the Grenoble hospital, said Schumacher was not in a "normal state of consciousness" when he arrived. "There were movements from his four limbs but he was not answering questions," Professor Payen said. "We can say that his condition is life-threatening."

He refused to predict Schumacher's chances or to comment upon reports of brain damage if he lived. "For the moment we cannot say what Michael Schumacher's future is," he said. Professor Payen added that the accident had occurred while Schumacher was skiing at high speed and said his helmet had given him partial protection. "Someone without a helmet would not have got this far," he said.

Gerard Saillant, one of France's top brain surgeons who flew to Grenoble from Paris last night, said Schumacher's prime physical condition would be a help in the fight for his life.

"Someone of 70 is less likely to survive this sort of crash than someone who is 45, and someone like Michael who is in top condition is more likely to survive than someone else."

Emmanuel Gay, head of the neurosurgery department at Gre-noble, said Schumacher's accident was depressingly familiar. "Unfortunately we see a lot of accidents like this. It is very frequent," Professor Gay said.

He said the incident underlined the need to wear a helmet while skiing, even if Schumacher's had failed to afford him full protection.

Schumacher's accident came on a weekend when two people, a man aged 31 and a 16-year-old boy, died after skiing off piste in the Savoie departement, which includes Meribel. The Interior Ministry's representative in Savoie said it was "of imperative importance to respect the safety rules and the pistes".

THE TIMES