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The Dutch royal family leaves an Innsbruck hospital on Thursday after being told that Prince Johann Friso, the second son of Queen Beatrix, may never awaken from his coma after being buried in an avalance. (Pictured from left) Prince Constantin, Queen Beatrix, her sister, Margriet Van Volenhoven, Prince Friso's wife, Mabel, and Crown Prince Willem-Alexander.
Prince Johann Frisco, the second son of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, remains in a deep coma following being buried in an avalance a week ago and deprived of oxygen for over 25 minutes. The prince had no heartbeat when he was rescued. It took 50 minutes to resuscitate the prince before he was airlifted to a trauma unit in Innsbruck.
The prince's condition had been so critical that doctors waited until yesterday to perform an MRI to assess the extent of the prince's brain damage.Â
“Because the prince was stuck under the snow for a very long time, he did not get enough oxygen,†his doctor, Wolfgang Koller, told a press conference.
“The lack of oxygen led to a cardiac arrest, which lasted for 50 minutes. During this entire period the patient had to be resuscitated. This is an exceptionally long period, you can say too long a period,†Koller said. Koller added if the 43-year-old father of two young daughters, hospitalized in Innsbruck near Lech since February 17, wakes from the coma his “rehabilitation will take months, possibly years.â€
“Our hope was that the patient’s mild hypothermia would provide some protection for the brain. This hope was not realised,†Koller added.
“The family of Prince Friso will now look for an appropriate facility for the rehabilitation,†he added.
Kollar was giving the first official details on the prince’s health since his accident last Friday.
Until now, the Dutch Royal House had limited itself to saying he was “stable, but not out of danger,†with the hospital refusing to comment.
The Dutch royal family was vacationing in Lech, where it regularly spends its skiing holiday, when the accident happened, and members of the family have made daily visits to the prince’s bedside.
The second son of Queen Beatrix, Johan Friso is no longer in line for the throne after he married in 2004 without the government’s permission. His wife, the former commoner, Mabel Wisse Smit, was considered too tainted to be a member of the royal family.Â
When he asked for official permission in 2003 to marry Mabel Wisse Smit, Dutch media published details of her relationship with mobster Klaas Bruinsma, who was shot and killed in 1991 in front of the Amsterdam Hilton hotel.
Following the revelations, the couple decided not to get official permission for their marriage.
Austrian newspapers also reported Friday that Queen Beatrix had extended her stay in Austria for another week due to her son’s accident.
A Dutch government statement said Prime Minister Mark Rutte had spoken to the queen and Johan Friso’s wife by phone and had assured them the country “shares the royal family’s pain at this time of worry and sorrowâ€.
He also called on people to “respect the privacy of the prince and his family†and allow them to digest the latest news from the doctors “with serenity and in private.â€
The statement also quoted Queen Beatrix saying the royal family was “touched by the many reactions and expressions of support over the last weekâ€.
At the time, the avalanche alert level was at four, the second highest.
Vorarlberg prosecutors have now launched a routine investigation into the accident and what or who might have caused it.
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