Rabat, Asharq Al-Awsat – The Spanish pilot who was flying the glider carrying Sheikh Ahmed Bin Zayed, which crashed last Friday into a lake near Sidi Mohammed Bin Abdullah dam, south of the Moroccan capital of Rabat, is recuperating at the Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Rabat after undergoing two operations.

Medical sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that his condition has improved but is still serious.

The pilot, Manuel Mansis, was first taken to the recovery department as he underwent two operations; one on his thigh and the other on his groin. The pilot jumped out of the plane and collided with its wing and suffered internal bleeding due to the force of the impact. Medical tubes were used to pump blood out of his body.

New tests were carried out on the pilot on Thursday using scanners in order to know his progress and it is likely that he will leave hospital to return to Spain next Saturday, according to the medical sources.

An official source in the Oum Azza neighborhood near Rabat said that the pilot jumped out of the plane and was hurt after he collided with the plane’s wing and that he floated on the water for a few minutes before he was rescued by local fishermen who carried him to the side of the lake. The source added that the pilot sat and waited at the side of the lake while everybody was looking for Sheikh Ahmed Bin Zayed, and that he was taken to Sheikh Zayed Hospital an hour after the crash.

There were also indications that the room where the pilot is recuperating is under tight security by the Moroccan authorities who have not released any information on his state of health. He was interviewed by Moroccan security apparatus