Secretary of State John Kerry suffered a broken leg in a bike accident in France early Sunday and will return to the U.S. for treatment, the State Department said.
The cycling accident occurred near Scionzier, France, about 25 miles from Geneva, where Kerry had been holding nuclear talks with Iran’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif.
Kerry was flown by helicopter to a hospital in Geneva. He was reported stable and in good spirits.
State Department spokesman John Kirby said Kerry had suffered a broken femur but was expected to make a full recovery. Kerry had planned to fly back Sunday evening to the U.S., but doctors decided it was “sensible” for him to remain in the hospital for observation overnight and fly home Monday, Kirby said.
Dr. Dennis Burke of Massachusetts General Hospital, who performed a hip replacement surgery on Kerry, was traveling to Switzerland to inspect the secretary of state’s injury, according to Kirby. Kerry will ultimately receive treatment at Massachusetts General upon his return to the U.S.
Kirby said Kerry never lost consciousness and was grateful to the French and Swiss doctors and nurses who assisted him. Paramedics and a physician were in Kerry’s motorcade at the time of the accident, Kirby said. Kerry had been due to head to Madrid on Sunday for talks with Spain’s king and prime minister before attending a meeting in Paris on Tuesday with coalition members battling ISIS. Kirby said Kerry was planning to take part in Tuesday’s meeting remotely. Matthew Grimson contributed reporting. This article originally appeared on NBCNews.com.
Shawna Thomas
Shawna is a Senior Producer of "Meet the Press" and also works on expanding the show to multiple NBC News and social media platforms. Before that she was one of NBC News' White House producers, reported on Congress and helped plan NBC's coverage of the 2008 presidential election.
She has a degree in political communication from the George Washington University and a graduate degree in journalism from the University of Southern California.
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