Celebrity ski accidents

PARIS - Skiing accidents have injured or killed several celebrities. Here are some of them.

DEATHS 

- Dutch prince Friso: The younger brother of King Willem-Alexander died on August 12, 2013, a year and a half after he was left brain-damaged by an avalanche while skiing in western Austria. He was 44, and had been buried by snow while skiing off-piste at Lech.

- British actress Natasha Richardson: She died on March 19, 2009 in New York, two days after hitting her head in what was initially dismissed as a minor accident at Mont Tremblant, north of Montreal. Richardson, 45, was the daughter of British actress Vanessa Redgrave and the wife of Irish actor Liam Neeson.

- Sonny Bono: Part of a 1960s pop music duo with his then-wife Cher, and later a congressman for California. He died on January 5, 1998 after striking a tree at Heavenly Valley, a resort on Lake Tahoe. Bono was 62.

- Michael Kennedy: Son of slain US politician Robert Kennedy, he died on December 31, 1997 after striking a tree at Aspen, Colorado at the age of 39. According to a witness, Michael was among around 30 members of the Kennedy family that was passing a bottle filled with snow to each other as they skiied, an event they filmed with a video camera.

- Prince Alfonso de Bourbon Dampierre: Duke of Cadix and would-be heir to the French throne, died on January 30, 1989 at the age of 52 after skiing down a roped-off men's downhill run at Beaver Creek, Colorado. A cousin of Spanish King Carlos and board member of the International Ski Federation (FIS), the prince almost decapitated himself when he hit a cable stretched across the bottom of the run.

INJURED 

- Marc Veyrat: A celebrity French chef who seriously injured himself on January 9, 2006 at Megeve in the French Alps after running into his daughter, who was riding a snowboard.

- Princess Caroline of Monaco: She suffered a torn ligament on February 12, 2001 when another skiier hit her from behind at Zuers, in western Austria and caused her to fall.

- Prince Laurent of Belgium: The prince suffered internal injuries on February 19, 2013 when he fell while skiing in Lermoos, Austria. The brother of Belgian King Philippe, Laurent was hospitalised for two days.