A CLOSE ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel is facing criminal investigation after a New Year’s Day collision on the ski slopes with a young mother who died of head injuries.

The accident, involving Dieter Althaus, president of the eastern German state of Thuringia, may have damaging consequences for Merkel’s ruling Christian Democratic Union in a general election year.

Althaus collided with Beata Christandl at the intersection of two ski trails in the Austrian alpine resort of Riesneralm.

Christandl, 41, a Slovak who lived in the United States with her husband, Bernhard, and one-year-old son, Markus, was not wearing a helmet and died on her way to hospital. Althaus, 50, was wearing one but only narrowly survived.

Initial findings from the criminal inquiry suggest that Althaus was travelling at nearly 25mph on an intermediate slope when he turned on to the easier slope where Christandl was skiing.

Both were experienced skiers but the location of the collision suggests that Althaus went round a crash barrier and may have turned uphill, against the flow of other skiers.

His lawyer, Walter Kreissl, has insisted he was not skiing recklessly, but a spokesman for the public prosecutor said criminal charges against Althaus had not been ruled out.

The politician, who spent several days in an induced coma, woke up to the news of Christandl’s death and the possibility of a trial for involuntary manslaughter.

Criminal charges against such a senior figure could harm Merkel’s party as it prepares for a September general election. Althaus has already been selected as his party’s leading candidate in Thuringia’s state election in August. Colleagues backed him last week, but there was press speculation about whether his political career could survive the incident.

Even before the accident, Althaus’s Christian Democrats were down in the polls and struggling to keep control of the state parliament, in which they have an absolute majority.

Elections in Germany’s 16 states are important tests of strength for national leaders, and a setback in Thuringia could be costly for Merkel.

The human cost of the accident is clear. Bernhard Christandl, 47, an Austrian colonel who works as a Nato liaison officer, said he had lost “the love of my life”.

“The baby doesn’t realise that the most important person in his life – his mother – is no longer alive,” he said.

“Earlier today I took him to his mother’s grave and he was tottering around without a care. That helps me a lot. Since the death of my wife, I’ve only had sleepless nights.”

Explore World News

• World Agenda

• Iraq News

• US & Americas News

• Europe News

• Middle East News

• Afghanistan News

• Asia News

• Africa News

• Ireland News

Times Recommends

• It’s only Brits who don’t appreciate me, says Blair
• Party’s over for Greek graspers
• White House tightens security for Xmas marathon