A star of Britain’s popular Top Gear car show who was seriously injured in a high-speed crash was airlifted on Thursday to a hospital nearer his home, officials and reports said.
The show’s co-presenter, Richard Hammond, was seen laughing and smiling as he sat up on a stretcher while medics brought him to an ambulance helicopter at Leeds General Infirmary in northern England.
”We were asked to transfer him there to a waiting plane, which has now taken off and has moved him closer to his home,” said Martin Eede, the Yorkshire Air Ambulance’s chief executive.
Britain’s domestic Press Association news agency said it is understood Hammond (36) has been taken to a hospital closer to his home near Cheltenham in Gloucestershire.
Medical staff at the hospital said his recovery from what they called a ”significant brain injury” was continuing as he recuperated in a general ward after being transferred from a high dependency unit on Friday.
Hammond’s wife Mindy has been keeping a vigil at his bedside and has thanked the public for their support.
Hammond was reportedly trying to break the British land speed record when he crashed in a rocket-powered dragster September 20 at a disused airfield near York, north England.
It is thought that he was travelling at speeds close to 480kph.
Police and safety experts have launched an investigation into the crash over whether all possible safety precautions were taken. The BBC has also launched its own investigation.
A spokesperson for the BBC, however, said: ”All BBC programmes, including Top Gear, take health and safety extremely seriously.” — AFP
