WARSAW: Polish PM ‘stable’ after car accident

WARSAW: Poland’s Prime Minister Beata Szydlo is in “stable condition” in hospital and can carry out her government duties as “nothing serious happened to her” when her limousine was involved in a car crash, her spokesman said Saturday.
The prime minister was riding in a motorcade on Friday evening when a Fiat 600 driven by a 21-year-old man struck her vehicle in the southern town of Oswiecim, where she was arriving for the weekend.

Her car was forced off the road and crashed into a tree, with the front of the car badly damaged. Two security agents including Szydlo’s driver were also injured, one of them suffering serious leg injuries.
However, Rafal Bochenek said Szydlo, 53, was undergoing tests, including X-rays, and will remain “for some time” in a government hospital in Warsaw, where she was brought on her own request. He could not immediately confirm whether she will attend the weekly government meeting on Tuesday.
The prime minister was still in hospital “under observation” and the duration of her stay would “depend on the specialists,” the spokesman said.
“She is being well looked after. She can carry out her role, she can fulfil her obligations as head of the government,” Bochenek said.
He refused to specify the nature of medical tests undergone by the 53-year-old or confirm if she would preside over the weekly Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
“She feels well although she is not completely back to normal after being involved in an accident,” he said.
Szydlo was wearing a safety belt at the time of the crash. Her car was in the middle of a three-car convoy going at some 50 km per hour on the town’s main road when a small Fiat car they were overtaking suddenly turned left and into her limousine, causing it to hit a tree, according to Janusz Hnatko, spokesman for prosecutors in the southern city of Krakow. The convoy had warning lights and sirens on, he said.
Szydlo’s driver and her bodyguard were also hurt and hospitalized.
The driver has admitted responsibility for the accident and has been charged with causing “bodily damage in a road accident.” If convicted, he faces up to three years in prison.

Source AFP