Family: Oscar Pistorius’ brother out of ICU, had suffered respiratory failure after car crash

STELLENBOSCH, South Africa – Oscar Pistorius’ brother is recovering and has been discharged from a hospital intensive care unit after suffering internal injuries in a car crash and going into respiratory failure, a spokeswoman for the Pistorius family said Tuesday.

Carl Pistorius has made “a miraculous recovery” after the head-on collision on a highway in northern South Africa on Aug. 1, spokeswoman Anneliese Burgess said in a statement.

The family released details of some of Carl’s injuries for the first time, saying he sustained lacerations to his heart and liver and went into respiratory failure. He also reportedly suffered multiple fractures. He was discharged from the ICU unit late last week, Burgess said, about two weeks after the accident.

Carl Pistorius, the older brother of double-amputee Olympian Oscar Pistorius, is expected to remain in the hospital in the South African capital, Pretoria, for around two more weeks for more surgery, Burgess said. He will then “proceed to a rehab facility to regain mobility,” she said.

South African media reported that Carl Pistorius, 29, also suffered fractures to an arm, a leg and an injury to his hip in the crash, although the family has not given details of those injuries. The head-on crash happened at night when another vehicle swerved onto Carl’s side of the highway. He was returning to Pretoria from a business trip to the northern city of Polokwane, his family said.

Carl Pistorius was also involved in a road accident in 2008, where a female motorcyclist died after colliding with his vehicle. He was acquitted last year for culpable homicide for the woman’s death.

Before the latest accident, Carl had regularly attended court sessions during brother Oscar’s murder trial in Pretoria, which is nearing its end. The judge will deliver a verdict in the trial on Sept. 11.

Oscar Pistorius, 27, faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted of premeditated murder for shooting girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Feb. 14, 2013. He also could be sent to prison for 15 years if convicted on a lesser murder charge or sentenced to at least five years in jail if found guilty of a negligent killing.

The world-famous disabled athlete claims he killed Steenkamp by mistake, thinking she was an intruder in his home when he shot four times through a toilet stall door in the night.