Oscar Pistorius’ brother, Carl, survived a near-fatal car accident in South Africa on the first of August and is now recovering, according to his family.

“Carl suffered poly-trauma injuries during the accident. These included lacerations to his heart and liver and he also went into respiratory failure,” family spokesperson Anneliese Burgess said.

Carl Pistorius suffered multiple fractures as well as lacerations to several internal organs and will have to undergo surgery soon, but for now Burgess says he is out of the woods and has been discharged from ICU. According to a statement from the family, Carl hit another car head-on when the other driver swerved into his lane in a late-night accident. He was only recently acquitted in a 2008 case after colliding with a woman on a motorcycle, killing her.

Carl Pistorius has been a prominent figure in the courtroom while his brother is on trial for the murder of Reeva Steenkamp, Oscar’s girlfriend. The Paralympian claims he awoke in the early hours of Valentine’s Day last year to odd sounds coming from the bathroom just off his bedroom and thought it was an intruder. Because it was dark, he didn’t see that Steenkamp wasn’t in bed and, in fear, shot four times through the closed bathroom door. Prosecutors say the murder came about after the couple had been arguing. Pistorius could get 25 years to life if convicted; the judge will give a verdict on September 11.