Angela Merkel skiing accident in Switzerland

Angela Merkel has fractured a bone in her pelvis in a cross-country skiing accident in Switzerland, her spokesman says.

The German chancellor will have to remain lying down as much as possible in the next three weeks and several visits will be cancelled, Steffen Seibert said.

Angela Merkel also suffered severe bruising in the accident, in the Alpine Engadine region of eastern Switzerland.

She was not skiing fast at the time, the spokesman added.

He called the injury “severe bruising linked with a partial fracture on the left, rear part of the pelvis”.

Immediately after the accident, during the Christmas holiday in December, Angela Merkel was not aware that part of her pelvis had been fractured, the spokesman said.

He did not give details about how it happened. She was skiing near the resort of St Moritz.

Angela Merkel still intends to chair a cabinet meeting on Wednesday – the first gathering of all her coalition ministers. She is now walking with the aid of crutches.But mostly she will be working from home.

Angela Merkel has cancelled a trip to Poland this week and will not receive Luxembourg’s new PM Xavier Bettel in Berlin, the spokesman said.