Qatar royals rush to Zurich as ex-emir suffers broken leg
Members of the Qatari royal family have made emergency trips in as many as nine planes to Switzerland, where the Persian Gulf state’s former emir underwent surgery for a broken leg.
A spokesman for Switzerland’s Federal Office of Civil Aviation, whose name was not mentioned in reports, said several aircraft, operated by the Qatari royal fleet, made unscheduled landings at Zurich Airport overnight between December 25 and 26.
“The emergency landing clearance was given by the Swiss air force,” The official added, without elaborating on details of who was on board or who any of the potential patients may have been.
A Qatari government statement confirmed that on December 26, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, known as the Father Emir in Qatar, “was flown to Zurich, Switzerland for emergency treatment after suffering a broken leg while on holiday.”
Sheikh Hamad underwent a successful operation and was staying in Zurich “recovering and undergoing physiotherapy,” the statement added.
The Qatari royal family was said to be on holiday at a Moroccan resort in the Atlas mountains.
Meanwhile, Swiss Foreign Ministry spokesman Georg Farago told AFP in an email that the department was informed about the “stay of members of Qatar’s royal family in Switzerland,” but refrained from providing further details.
The first Qatari plane, an Airbus, landed from the city of Marrakesh shortly after midnight on December 26, Zurich's Tages Anzeiger newspaper reported.
A second flight landed at Zurich Airport at 5:00 a.m. local time the same day, with a third plane coming a few minutes later, both having originated in the Qatari capital city of Doha, the paper said, adding that six more planes linked to the royal family and government landed in Zurich through the weekend.
Sheikh Hamad, who ruled Qatar between 1995 and 2013, stepped down in June 2013 and handed power to his son, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
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