Wednesday, May 8, 2013
May 7, 2013, 1:51 pm 1 Comment
Video of Imran Khan’s Fall at Election Rally in Pakistan
By ROBERT MACKEY
http://vimeo.com/65647621
Video from Pakistan’s Express Tribune showed the former cricketer Imran Khan falling at an election rally in Lahore on Tuesday.
Last Updated, 2:36 p.m. Imran Khan, a former cricket superstar who has been drawing huge crowds to campaign rallies in Pakistan ahead of Saturday’s election, was rushed to a hospital in Lahore on Tuesday after he was knocked off a forklift at the edge of a stage and fell headfirst to the ground, nearly 15 feet below.
As video of the incident posted on Vimeo by Karachi’s Express Tribune showed, Mr. Khan was being lifted up to the stage when a security man clambered on to the forklift causing the candidate and two other men to lose their footing. According to initial reports from Pakistani journalists and bloggers, Mr. Khan was in stable condition.
Footage of the accident broadcast by Pakistan’s Geo TV also showed Mr. Khan being rushed from the scene after the fall, with blood on his face.
According to updates on his condition posted on the official Twitter feed of his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, the 60-year-old suffered “a minor fracture” and was “stable, alert, awake and conscious” after getting 12 stitches.
Mr. Khan’s former wife, the British writer and socialite Jemima Khan, also confirmed that he was conscious, and praying aloud, as he was rushed to the hospital, according to a family member.
Pakistani commentators — including Umar Cheema, Nadeem Paracha, Beena Sarwar and the blogger who writes as Raza Rumi — noted with relief that rival politicians, bloggers and activists mostly paused the often-fractious debate about the nation’s problems online and on the campaign trail in sympathy with Mr. Khan.
Before being taken seriously as a politician, Mr. Khan was perhaps best known as a member of the international jet set. His former wife was close friends with Princess Diana, who helped Mr. Khan raise funds for Lahore’sShaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital, which he founded in memory of his late mother. On Tuesday night, Mr. Khan was being treated there.
Late Tuesday, Mr. Khan was well enough to resume campaigning in a television interview from his hospital bed with Pakistan’s Dunya News channel.
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/07/video-of-imran-khans-fall-at-election-rally-in-pakistan/