Avalanche Accident
On 17 February 2012, Prince Friso was buried under an avalanche in Lech, Austria, and he was taken to a hospital in Innsbruck. According to a formal statement of the Netherlands Government Information Service (RVD), a prognosis can only be given after some days. The prince's condition was described as "stable, but critical".
The Dutch royal family issued a statement on 19 February saying "The Royal Family is very grateful and deeply touched by all expressions of support and sympathy after the ski accident of His Royal Highness Prince Friso. It was a great support for them during this difficult time."
A prognosis on his health situation was expected within a few days, but this was pushed back to Friday 24 February, a week after his accident. The RVD's comment remained the same: stable, but critical. On 24 February, an Innsbruck medical team announced that the prince had been buried for 25 minutes, followed by a 50-minute CPR to treat his cardiac arrest. Dr. Wolfgang Koller stated that an MRI was performed a day earlier revealing little change, however other neurological tests indicated significant damage due to oxygen shortage. It remains unclear whether the prince will ever regain consciousness. Koller said that the prince's family may now look for a rehabilitation institution. On the same day the Dutch royal family issued a statement requesting that the privacy of the prince's family be respected to enable them to come to terms with his condition.
On 1 March 2012, Prince Friso was transferred to the Wellington Hospital in London, the city where he and his wife have lived for many years.
On 19 November 2012 it was announced that the prince has started to show some signs of consciousness but it is still not certain whether he will wake up, and if so, in what kind of state.
Read more about this topic: Prince Friso Of Orange-Nassau
Famous quotes containing the words avalanche and/or accident:
“The Humanity of men and women is inversely proportional to their Numbers. A Crowd is no more human than an Avalanche or a Whirlwind. A rabble of men and women stands lower in the scale of moral and intellectual being than a herd of Swine or of Jackals.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“Fortuitous circumstances constitute the moulds that shape the majority of human lives, and the hasty impress of an accident is too often regarded as the relentless decree of all ordaining fate.”
—Augusta Evans (1835–1909)