US Secretary of State John Kerry was to fly home for treatment yesterday after breaking his leg in a cycling accident, with the White House insisting that the US’ top diplomat had not been put out of action.
Kerry, 71, a keen cyclist, was hospitalized in Geneva — where he was meeting his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif — after the accident in the French Alps on Sunday.
However, White House spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki, who used to work for Kerry at the US Department of State, said the accident would not slow down the globetrotting envoy.
“I would love to see anyone at the hospital try to stop John Kerry from negotiating and working while recovering from breaking his leg,” she tweeted.
Kerry was initially expected to return to the US on Sunday evening, but the State Department later announced the flight had been postponed.
“The secretary had planned on flying back to the US this evening, but after further consultation it was sensible for him to remain in the hospital for observation overnight for purely precautionary measures and fly home tomorrow,” department spokesman John Kirby said.
He added that Kerry was “in great spirits and active,” and had spoken by telephone with US President Barack Obama.
Kerry’s fall happened after he had just set out on a planned ride of one of the stages of the Tour de France, the challenging Col de la Colombiere mountain pass, a local source said.
Kerry broke his right femur in his fall in the village of Scionzier, near Chamonix.
He has had to cancel both a trip to Spain and his attendance at an international meeting in Paris on the crisis over the Islamic State group, Kirby said.
However, he said Kerry planned to “remotely” join today’s Paris talks, which are aimed at reviewing the international coalition’s strategy against the militants.
The State Department said US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken will lead the delegation at the Paris talks instead.
“Given the injury is near the site of his prior hip surgery, he will return to Boston ... to seek treatment at Massachusetts General Hospital with his doctor who did the prior surgery,” Kirby said on Sunday.
Kerry had asked local officials in eastern France’s Haute-Savoie to organize the trip in the beautiful Alpine region.
“He had expressed a wish, a few days ago, to complete a stage of the Tour de France passing through the Col de la Colombiere. The hill is very well-known for its difficulty, and because he loves France and cycling, he decided to climb it on his bicycle,” the local source said. “He fell accidentally, like all other cyclists have at some point.”
A State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Kerry fell after hitting a curb.
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