Pistorius brother 'badly hurt' in S.Africa road crash

Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius (L) speaks to his brother Carl during his murder trial at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on May 20, 2014. By Siphiwe Sibeko (POOL/AFP/File)

Johannesburg (AFP) - The older brother of South African Paralympian Oscar Pistorius is in hospital after being injured in a road crash, his family said Saturday.

Carl Pistorius, 29, "was badly hurt but we are thankful that he is out of danger," the family said in a statement after the accident on South Africa's main highway on Friday evening.

His car was hit head-on by a vehicle that swerved from the opposite side of the expressway into the oncoming traffic around 120 kilometres (75 miles) northwest of Pretoria.

Police spokesman for Limpopo province, Hangwani Mulaudzi, described the accident as "very bad" and said Carl and the driver of the other car had to be extracted using hydraulic rescue tools known as "the jaws of life".

Carl was acquitted in May last year of culpable homicide and reckless driving over a fatal crash in 2008 in which his vehicle collided with a motorbike driven by a woman who died in hospital a few days later.

His famous brother Oscar Pistorius, 27, is on trial accused of murdering his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine's Day in 2013.

He has said he shot Steenkamp four times through a locked bathroom door in his apartment after mistaking her for an intruder.

His trial is set to resume on August 7 for closing arguments.