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Michael Schumacher: police give more details of skiing accident Michael Schumacher not skiing at excessive speed – French investigators
(about 1 hour later)
Michael Schumacher was travelling at the speed of "a skilled skier on hard terrain" when he crashed in the French Alps last month, investigators have said. French investigators say Michael Schumacher was not skiing at excessive speed when he fell and smashed his head on a rock, leaving him critically ill in hospital.
Lead prosecutor Patrick Quincy said Schumacher had deliberately chosen to go off piste at the Méribel resort, and that he fell face down, striking his head on a rock. In their first full account of the accident at the resort of Méribel in French Alps, officials said they could not determine the exact speed the former Formula One star was going, but it appeared "normal for the terrain".
Quincy said the inquiry had been examining footage from Schumacher's helmet camera, and police had interviewed many witnesses and spoken to experts. Patrick Quincy, the lead prosecutor in the inquiry, said Schumacher was a "very good skier" who knew the Méribel resort well.
"We have yet to transcribe the film image by image," he said, adding that the footage was only two minutes long and gave a "very limited scope of vision". "At one point his ski touched a rock, he lost his balance and fell forward. His head hit a rock three metres downslope," Quincy said.
Two investigation teams were working on the case, he added, and it was too early to attribute any responsibilty for the accident. Investigators said the rocks Schumacher hit, just eight metres from the nearest slope, appeared to be hidden by a light covering of recent snowfall.
Commander Stéphane Bozon said Schumacher's skis were almost new and not the cause of the accident. Quincy said two teams of police and gendarmes were working on the inquiry and had spoken to many witnesses and experts. He added that speed "did not appear to be an important factor" in the accident on 29 December.
Schumacher was skiing at an altitude of 2,700 metres (8,850ft) between a red piste, Les Chamois, and a blue piste, La Biche, heading back towards the resort of Méribel when he fell. "We have examined the film in the camera fixed to Mr Schumacher's helmet and are transcribing it image by image to establish the place of the fall, the distance from the piste and the speed," he told a press conference in the Alpine town of Albertville.
He had left his chalet with his 14-year-old son, Mick, at 10am that Sunday wearing a back protector, rented skis and a helmet, on which he had fixed a camera. Schumacher, 45, was skiing between a red piste, Les Chamois, and a blue piste, La Biche, at an altitude of 2,700 meters, when he entered a small off-piste area between the two slopes heading back to Méribel.
After about 45 minutes' skiing, the father and son, who were descending the red piste, joined a group of friends that included a close friend of Schumacher's son. He had left his chalet in the chic Alpine resort that morning with his 14-year-old son Mick and was wearing a back protector and using rented skis and a helmet on which he had fixed a camera.
At 11.07am, in the corridor off piste between the two slopes, Schumacher's ski hit a rock hidden under 20cm (8in) of snow that had fallen the previous night. He pitched forward, lost his skis and fell, hitting his head on a rock, also hidden under the recent snow. The helmet smashed and Schumacher suffered a serious injury to the right side of the skull. After about four minutes, the pair were descending the red slope when Schumacher skied into the off-piste area.
Investigators said the chain of events was confirmed by the camera on the former Formula One driver's helmet. Investigators suggested he was attempting to slow down but that it was not easy to make turns in the area. After falling and hitting his head, smashing his helmet, they said the German racing star was "inanimate".
Emergency services said he was conscious, able to move his arms and legs but unable to speak. He fell unconscious in the helicopter taking him to hospital. Quincy said the film in the helmet camera - a GoPro model - was only two minutes long, gave a "very limited scope of vision", and was being re-analysed to establish "the circumstances and the cause" of the accident.
Schumacher remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital in Grenoble. "The film doesn't appear to represent the whole descent. We don't see images of the accident in the field of vision. All you can year is the gliding of skis on fresh snow. It is difficult to draw any conclusions from this," Quincy added.
Commander Stéphane Bozon said Schumacher was "a good skier and went off to the left of the market piste. We cannot give an exact figure for the speed he was going, but this area is not one that allows you to turn very much to reduce speed," Bozon said.
Both prosecutors and police insisted the markings on the piste conformed to safety norms.
"But he was skiing outside of the marked zone … this carries a risk in itself on a mountain."
"The markings on the slope conform to the regulations. Unfortunately, it's a season where going off-piste is risky, where the rocks are hidden just below the snow."
The skis were almost new and not the cause of the accident, Bozon added.
Asked directly if Schumacher was at fault, Quincy refused to answer and said it was "too early" to attribute any responsibility for the accident.
Asked why he though the racing driver had left the slope, he answered: "We don't know. If there are witnesses who do know, we have not heard from them. Mr Michael Schumacher is a good skier who knew Méribel well and who skied there often.
"Speed is not a particularly important element of the inquiry for us nor for the decisions we will make at the conclusion of the inquiry," he added.
Colonel Benoït Vinnermann, of the local gendarme investigation team said Schumacher was "going at a normal speed for this type of terrain".
Schumacher remains in a medically induced coma in hospital at Grenoble, where his condition is described as "critical, but stable".
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