Former world motor racing champion Michael Schumacher has come out of a medically induced coma and been transferred to a hospital near his home in Switzerland.
Michael Schumacher attending a media conference in 2012. Photo: AFP
In a surprise announcement, the retired racing star's spokeswoman Sabine Kehm said on Monday he had left hospital in the French Alpine city of Grenoble, where he had been treated since December when he slammed his head on a rock while skiing with his son and friends.
The 45-year-old German driver was transferred to a hospital in the Swiss city of Lausanne, hospital officials said.
In a statement, Ms Kehm said the Formula One ex-champion's further rehabilitation would take place away from the public eye.
The spokeswoman gave no further details about Schumacher's condition, which has been kept under a tight lid since his accident in the French Alpine resort of Meribel on 29 December.
The seven-time world champion underwent two operations to remove life-threatening blood clots after his freak accident that shocked the world, before being plunged into a medically induced coma.
His family announced at the end of January that drugs used to keep him in his deep sleep were being reduced with a view to bringing him back to consciousness, but few other details had filtered out since then.
Schumacher is well known for his love of adrenaline sports, and even after retiring from the high-risk world of racing, he kept pursuing other high-thrill hobbies as the holder of a pilot's licence, an accomplished motorbike rider, parachutist, skier and mountain climber, AFP reports.
He survived a motorbike accident in Spain in 2009, during which he suffered head and neck injuries but was released from hospital after just five hours.
The accident on 29 December proved near fatal, but in several statements released to the media, his wife Corinna and two children said they remained confident that the man who defied death more than once on the track would pull through.
The former world motor racing champion was transferred Lausanne's CHUV hospital. Photo: AFP
