Pistorius boating accident: What actually happened?

Vanderbijlpark police are investigating a case of reckless and negligent driving against athlete Oscar Pistorius, Beeld newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Pistorius suffered serious facial injuries in a boating accident on the Vaal River on Saturday. A passenger on the boat suffered minor injuries.

“The Barrage police are investigating the possibility that Pistorius did not hit a floating object like a tree trunk, but collided with a pier,” Inspector Kinnie Steyn said.

He said police divers found the boat Pistorius was piloting at the bottom of the river near a pier which had been ripped from its posts.

A caretaker of the river property, David Mokhashane, said he noticed on Sunday afternoon that the pier had been damaged.

“On Saturday the pier was still okay,” he said.

Pistorius, who is recovering from facial surgery, is expected to remain in hospital until the end of the week.

Pistorius’s manager, Peet van Zyl, said that doctors were confident that the star athlete will make full recovery.

“Doctors are quite confident that he will make full recovery ...

Doctors have not given a specific recovery time,” he said on public radio on Monday.

Pistorius, known as the “Blade Runner” after the carbon fibre blades that have replaced his lower legs, last year fought a court battle with athletics ruling body, the International Association of Athletics Federations, over his right to compete at the Beijing Olympics with able-bodied athletes, which he won.

However, he failed to qualify and is set on competing at the 2012 Games in London.—Sapa