Eyewitness accounts suggest Michael Kennedy and other members of the family were throwing a ball around as they skied down a slope at Aspen, Colorado.

Michael Kennedy, the 39-year-old son of the late U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, lost control and crashed into a tree, suffering fatal injuries.

The BBC's Bill Turnbull reports from Washington (Dur: 1-53")

He was skiing with several members of his family at the Aspen Mountain resort about 4:15pm on Wednesday when the accident occurred, the resort said.

Within about four minutes, the ski patrol was on the scene administering first aid that continued as he was brought to the base of the mountain.

Professor Stephen Shear, from Carlton College of Minnesota, discusses the latest Kennedy tragedy (Dur: 1-39")

Kennedy was the second of the 11 children born to former senator and his wife, Ethel, to die under tragic circumstances. His brother David died in Florida in 1984 of a drug overdose.

"Ethel Kennedy and her family are mourning the loss of their beloved son Michael who was fatally injured while skiing with his family in Aspen," read a statement from the Aspen Ski Co.

Once viewed as the next political star in the Kennedy family, Michael suffered a fall from grace last spring when he was accused of having had an affair with his family's baby-sitter.

Michael and Joseph Kennedy share a laugh at a charity function in 1987

The sensation created by that report had an impact on the withdrawal of his older brother, U.S. Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II, rom the 1998 gubernatorial race in Massachusetts.

Allegations that the baby-sitter was 14 at the time the affair began prompted Norfolk County District Attorney Jeffrey Locke to investigate Kennedy. Sex with a minor constitutes statutory rape in Massachusetts.

Locke ultimately dropped the investigation after the woman, now a college student, and her family refused to press charges. Since then, Kennedy remained largely out of sight.

Michael Kennedy escorts his bride Vicki after their wedding in New York in 1981

He made news earlier in the year when he and his wife, Victoria, daughter of ABC sportscaster Frank Gifford, revealed that they were separating. But recent reports indicated that the couple had reconciled. The couple had three children.

Kennedy said earlier this year he was undergoing treatment for alcoholism. In a statement after the investigation was dropped, he said only that he made serious mistakes.

Kennedy headed Citizens Energy Corp., a nonprofit organization that supplies heating fuel to the poor, and managed his uncle Edward Kennedy's U.S. Senate re-election campaign in 1994.
 

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