The Hague: The condition of Prince Johan
Friso, son of Dutch Queen Beatrix remained unchanged after a
second night in an Austrian hospital after a horror skiing
accident, the Royal Dutch House said on Sunday.
"The health condition of his royal majesty Prince Friso
remains unchanged," at the intensive care unit of the
Innsbruck University Hospital, it said in a statement issued
in The Hague.
"He is stable, but not out of danger," it added, using the
same terms to describe the 43-year-old prince`s condition
yesterday.
A prognosis would most likely "not be given before the end
of this week", the statement added.
Prince Friso was skiing off-piste with an unnamed Austrian
friend, around noon Friday when he was buried by an avalanche
near Lech, where the Dutch royal family traditionally take
their winter holidays.
Despite wearing a ski-helmet and an avalanche beeper, the
prince spent some 20 minutes under the snow before he was
rescued and had to be resuscitated, Austrian news reports
said. He was evacuated to Innsbruck by helicopter.
Queen Beatrix, 74, as well as the prince`s wife Mabel
Wisse Smit were again at the hospital today, Dutch news
reports said.
Other members of the Dutch royal family including Johan
Friso`s brothers, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, his wife
Maxima, and younger brother Prince Constantijn with his wife
Princess Laurentien arrived there Friday night.
Austrian prosecutors announced yesterday they had launched
an investigation into the accident, though this is a routine
measure in this kind of incident.
At the time of the accident, the avalanche alert level in
Lech -- as in much of Austria -- was at four, the second
highest.
PTI
