SPECULATION is growing that former Formula One star Michael Schumacher's ski bindings may have failed, possibly causing the accident that has left him critically ill in hospital.
Local prosecutors in France are due to hold a press conference today to announce developments in the investigation amid reports special clips on Schumacher's boots may have malfunctioned before he fell, hitting his head on a rock and leaving him with brain injuries.
The seven-times world champion's wife, Corinna, issued a plea for the family's privacy to be respected and for journalists and TV crews to leave the hospital where he is being treated in Grenoble, France.
Schumacher was admitted to hospital on December 29 after suffering brain injuries and has since undergone two operations to remove blood clots and reduce swelling.
The 45-year-old is in an artificially induced coma. Mrs Schumacher said: "Please support us in our common fight with Michael. It is important to me that you leave the doctors and the hospital so that they can work in peace."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article