FILE PHOTO – In this March 16, 2015 file picture, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, rides a bike after a bilateral meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister in Lausanne, Switzerland. Kerry is in stable condition in a Swiss hospital after suffering a leg injury in a bike crash on Sunday, May 31, 2015. (Photo: Jean-Christophe Bott, Keystone via AP, file)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry broke his leg in a bicycle accident Sunday after hitting a curb, and will cut short a four-nation trip that included an international conference on combating the Islamic State (ISIS) terror army.
Kerry, 71, is in stable condition but will return to Boston for further treatment, nonetheless. The consultation will be given by the same doctor who operated on his hip, according to U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby. He said X-rays at a Swiss hospital confirmed that Kerry fractured his right femur.
“The secretary is stable and never lost consciousness, his injury is not life-threatening and he is expected to make a full recovery,” Kirby said in a statement.
Kerry, who was accompanied by Haute Savoie officials, was transported via helicopter to Geneva’s main medical center, HUG, after the accident. It occurred near Scionzier, France, located roughly 40 kilometers southeast of the Swiss border.
According to the State Department spokesman, paramedics and a physicians on the scene decided the 10-minute-long helicopter transport was necessary. A local newspaper, the Dauphine Libere, reported that Kerry fell near the beginning of his ride to the famed mountain pass known as the Col de la Colombiere, which was the chosen route for the Tour de France over a dozen times.
Kerry had been in Geneva for six hours of meetings with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Saturday to further hatch out the details of a comprehensive nuclear deal by the June 30 deadline. Of course, deadlines for the simple framework deal were missed multiple times without consequence. Now, there is already talk that the injury could further delay diplomatic talks with Iran, as well as a trip to the U.S. Embassy in Cuba for a flag-raising ceremony.
Though Kerry had planned to travel to Madrid on Sunday for meetings with Spain’s king and prime minister, followed by two days in Paris for an international gathering to combat ISIS, he will only attend the Paris conference remotely.
According to local media, a Twitter feed covering driving conditions warned of dangerous gravel along the pass right around the time of his fall.
