Report: Michael Schumacher skiing accident investigation closed

Michael Schumacher is unlikely to make a full recovery from his skiing accident, doctors say. (Victor Caivano/AP)

A prosecutor in the town of Albertville, France, has determined there was no third-party involvement in F1 racing legend Michael Schumacher's horrific skiing accident late last year, according to a report in the U.K.-based Mirror newspaper. 

French officials have returned Schumacher’s skiing helmet — which shattered into three pieces during the accident — to his family after completing the investigation, according to the report. Schumacher's helmet-mounted camera and the rented skis he was wearing were also returned to his family.

Schumacher has been in an artificially induced coma since the accident. The 45-year-old Schumacher suffered serious head injuries when he fell and hit the right side of his head on a rock in the French resort of Meribel last December, shattering part of his helmet.

The Mirror noted another report from Stern, a weekly German magazine, which is questioning whether first responders at the scene of the accident may have misdiagnosed the severity of Schumacher's injury upon arriving at the scene.

According to Stern, Schumacher was conscious upon the paramedics' arrival. He was able to make eye contact and respond to questions. His response led him to be flown to a regional hospital without being hooked up to a ventilator, according to the report.

“Had the rescuers arrived at the scene minutes later, they may have recognized the matter of life and death,” the report read. "“But they put Schumacher into the helicopter without artificial respiration.”