Richard Hammond airlifted to hospital after horror crash

Richard Hammond. Photo / Driven.

Former Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond has been airlifted to hospital after a horror crash in Switzerland.

The 47-year-old, who sustained brain injuries after a 288mph rocket car accident in 2006, is being treated in hospital after flipping a £2million electric supercar which then burst into flames as he filmed his new Amazon show The Grand Tour.

But he has miraculously escaped the fireball horror with little more than a fractured knee and was 'conscious and talking' after freeing himself from the vehicle.

Pictures from the scene showed the Rimac Concept One car in flames alongside a road in St. Gallen before the blaze was extinguished by firefighters.

Grand Tour producer Amazon later released images showing the burnt-out wreckage of the car laying upside down on a hill.

The crash is reported to have happened on a road that was closed for the Bergrennen Hemberg race.

A spokesperson for The Grand Tour said: 'Richard Hammond was involved in a serious crash after completing the Hemburg Hill Climb in Switzerland in a Rimac Concept One, an electric super car built in Croatia, during filming for The Grand Tour Season 2 on Amazon Prime, 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.'

Grand Tour co-star Jeremy Clarkson tweeted: 'It was the biggest crash I've ever seen and the most frightening but incredibly, and thankfully, Richard seems to be mostly OK.'

A source told The Sun: 'The crash was really bad. The car completely flipped and then burst into flames.

'There was real concern for Richard but the emergency services were quickly on hand and he's a very lucky boy.

'It brought back horrendous memories of the 2006 crash for those who witnessed it.'

After the news broke, several fans took to Twitter to voice their concern and send him their best wishes, while others highlighted his unbeatable fearlessness.

Twitter user JGA wrote to his co-stars Mr Clarkson and Mr May and said: 'My best wishes to @RichardHammond. Hope he is ok. Nothing puts him off - I know he'll be getting back in a car soon.'

Vitesh Patel said: 'Get well @RichardHammond, don't want to speculate what happened, just get better!'

Tommy Jack wrote: 'Hope Richard Hammond is ok, looked proper nasty crash.'

It comes just weeks after Mr Hammond toppled off his motorcycle and banged his head while riding through a 'remote' part of Mozambique.

In a blog post, he wrote: 'It's true, I did fall off a motorbike whilst filming recently for The Grand Tour in Mozambique.

'I banged my head, yes, along with pretty much everything else apart from my left thumb, which remains un-bruised.

'Can't tell you more yet about the how and why of it; that's all for later in the year on the show. As for injuries; well put it this way, I don't think I can get a book out of it.'

In 2006 Hammond nearly died after crashing a jet powered car at 288 mph and slipped into a coma during an attempt to break the British land speed record for the BBC show.

He was driving a jet-powered Vampire dragster when the front-right tyre burst leading the vehicle to spin out of control during a stunt at Elvington airfield near York.

Hammond suffered serious head injuries and he was in hospital for five weeks before returning home to his wife Mindy and their two daughters, Isabella and Willow.

The TV presenter, nicknamed 'Hamster', later told how he struggled 'mortally with depression' and spoke regularly to a psychiatrist following the incident.