Surgeons said on Tuesday that his condition had “stabilised”. The procedure
carried out was aimed at reducing the pressure on his brain.
Gerard Saillant, a top French neurosurgeon, said the decision to operate for a
second time on the seven-times Formula One champion had been taken after
consulting his family.
“We can’t say we’ve won yet,” Prof Saillant said. “There are highs and lows.”
Schumacher, 44, had emergency brain surgery on Sunday hours after the
accident. His wife, Corinna, his 14-year-old son Michael Jr and his daughter
Gina-Maria are at the hospital. Schumacher’s German doctor is also there.
A source close to the investigation into his accident said the impact had been
so severe that Schumacher’s helmet split when he fell and hit his head on a
rock.
Schumacher was skiing 6,800ft up at the Meribel resort in the French Alps with
his son when he slipped and fell in powder snow between two pistes, one red
and the other blue.
Friends denied reports that he had been skiing at high speed and said he had
been helping “a friend who had fallen” shortly before he crashed into a
rock.
According to his official spokesman, Sabine Kehm, he was not skiing at high
speed when he had his catastrophic accident, as has been speculated.
Kehm, who was not skiing with Schumacher at the time of the accident, said she
had spoken to Schumacher’s skiing party and understands that speed was not a
factor.
“Michael and the group had been skiing on normal slopes,” she said. “In
between red and blue slopes there was an area and they went into that.
“He helped a friend who had fallen and went into deep snow, hit a rock
and was catapulted into the air and landed head down. It was extreme bad
luck, not because he was at speed.”
One emergency worker said: “When we got there, Schumacher’s helmet was broken
and we saw a lot of blood.”
Skiers had been warned not to venture off-piste because of the danger of
avalanches and rocks covered by soft, recently fallen snow.