Polish PM injured in car accident – gov’t spokesman

WARSAW, Poland – Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo was hospitalized with minor injuries on Friday, February 10, after a car struck her government vehicle in the southern city of Oswiecim, a government spokesman said.

 “Prime Minister Beata Szydlo is in good condition. She will undergo additional routine tests in Warsaw,” government spokesman Rafal Bochenek said in a tweet on his official Twitter feed.

The 53-year-old prime minister was riding in a motorcade when the Fiat vehicle struck, forcing her car off the road where it crashed into a tree. Two security agents were also injured.

Bochenek told the TVN24 commercial news channel that Szydlo’s injuries were “mainly bumps and bruises caused by her seat belt.”

He declined to say how many days Szydlo is expected to spend in hospital.

Szydlo was being transferred by helicopter to a Warsaw hospital late Friday where she is expected to remain under observation.

State prosecutors have opened an investigation into the crash. 

“We’re with you Beato and we’re sure that after a brief stay in hospital, you’ll be back with us again leading the government,” Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the powerful head of Szydlo’s rightwing Law and Justice (PiS) party, told supporters at a Friday memorial meeting in Warsaw.

The gatherings are held each month for his late twin brother, former president Lech Kaczynski, who died in a 2010 jet crash in Russia.

Friday’s car crash was just the latest road incident involving a senior Polish government official.

Szydlo was unscathed when several cars in her official motorcade were involved in a crash in Jerusalem during a November visit to Israel.

Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz also escaped injury last month when his official vehicle was caught in a pile-up of several cars on an icy highway.

President Andzej Duda was unhurt when he ended up in a road-side ditch last March after a tyre on his official limousine blew. – Rappler.com