Former Top Gear host Richard Hammond has narrowly escaped serious injury after a horror car crash in Switzerland, while filming a segment for his new show The Grand Tour.
The 47-year-old was on a practice run for a race in a Rimac Concept One, an electric super car built in Croatia, when the incident occurred.
In a statement released via the official Grand Tour Twitter account, producers of the show said:
“Richard Hammond was involved in a serious crash after completing the Hemburg Hill Climb in Switzerland … but very fortunately suffered no serious injury. Richard was conscious and talking and climbed out of the car himself before the vehicle burst into flames. He was flown by Air Ambulance to hospital in St Gallen to be checked over revealing a fracture to his knee. Nobody else was in the car or involved in the accident, and we’d like to thank the paramedics on site for their swift response. The cause of the crash is unknown and is being investigated.”
Co-host Jeremy Clarkson said “it was the biggest crash I’ve ever seen and the most frightening but incredibly, and thankfully, Richard seems to be mostly OK.”
This is not the first time Hammond has cheated death in a serious crash. In 2006, while filming a Top Gear segment, he lost control of a Vampire dragster while driving at high speed, and was comatose for two weeks.
He suffered brain injuries in the crash, which was likely caused by the disintegration of the car’s front tyre after hitting a nail or other similar object on the track, but made a full recovery.
Photo: The Gran Tour / Joseph Okpako / Getty.
Source: BBC News.
