Dutch prince Johan Friso fights for life after ski resort avalanche

By Jane Bradley
Published on Saturday 18 February 2012 00:19

DUTCH Prince Johan Friso lay in a critical condition in an Austrian hospital’s intensive care unit last night after an avalanche buried him while he was skiing off piste in the Austrian alps.

His wife, Princess Mabel and his mother, Queen Beatrix, were believed to be by his side. The 43-year-old prince, the middle son of the Dutch queen, was being treated in Innsbruck’s University clinic.

Stefan Jochum, a spokesman for the Lech ski area, where the accident happened yesterday afternoon, said the prince’s condition was serious – but insisted his life was no longer in danger.

However, a conflicting Dutch government statement claimed that the prince’s life “remains at risk”.

Mr Jochum said the accident happened as the prince and other skiers were on slopes away from the marked Lech ski runs, laden with snow after weeks of record falls.

“A snow slide came down and the prince was buried,” said Mr Jochum. It was reported that rescue crews spent just 15 minutes trying to free the prince before he was taken to hospital.

“After the emergency call, rescue crews were on the scene with rescue helicopters. He could be located immediately and freed,” a police official said.

The incident happened at around lunch time in the area of Litzen-Zugertobel – in the western province of Vorarlberg.

It is thought around three or four people, including the prince, were skiing off-piste when the avalanche struck, according to the mayor of the region, Ludwig Muxel.

The Dutch royal family often spends winter holidays in Lech – which like other parts of Austria has been blanketed with heavy snow in recent weeks.

Many parts of the country have avalanche alerts in effect and authorities had advised skiers not to leave the main slopes.

Mainland Europe has suffered freezing conditions and wintry storms. Last week, an avalanche buried 18 homes in southern Kosovo, killing at least ten people.

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said he had been in contact with Queen Beatrix after the accident. “I let her know that the Netherlands sympathises greatly with her,” he said.

He said that the prognosis of the prince’s condition was not yet clear. “We know no more than that the best doctors are around.” he added.

Prince Johan Friso’s older brother is Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and his younger brother is Prince Constantijn. The prince, who most recently worked as financial director at Urenco, the European uranium-enrichment consortium, gave up any claim to the Dutch throne to marry commoner Mabel Wisse Smit, in 2004. The pair have two daughters.

After the couple announced their intention to marry, Dutch media revealed that Ms Wisse Smit’s previous friendships included contact with a well-known Dutch drug dealer who was later killed.

The then prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende signalled he could not recommend the marriage to parliament for approval.

They married anyway, resulting in Friso’s removal from the line of succession.