Princess Diana's heartbreaking words to firefighter who held her hand after tragic crash
21.08.2022 - 23:01
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
It's been almost 25 years since the tragic death of Princess Diana which sent shockwaves around the world.
The royal was just 36-years-old when she died following a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997, that also killed her companion Dodi Fayed and the vehicle's driver. The car crashed into the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in the French capital, with emergency services racing to the scene and comforting Diana, writes the Mirror.
One of the emergency crew was firefighter Xavier Gourmelon, who when he first saw Diana had no idea who she was. He didn't believe the "blonde woman" in the back of the car was seriously injured as she had her eyes open and was conscious as he comforted the mother of two.
Before she was taken out of the car, he held her hand and comforted her, telling her to stay calm. Diana then asked him: "My God, what's happened?" Just moments later she suffered a cardiac arrest.
Mr Gourmelon previously told The Sun : "I massaged her heart and a few seconds later she started breathing again. It was a relief of course because, as a first responder, you want to save lives — and that's what I thought I had done.To be honest I thought she would live. As far as I knew when she was in the ambulance she was alive and I expected her to live. But I found out later she had died in hospital. It was very upsetting.
"I know now that there were serious internal injuries, but the whole episode is still very much in my mind. And the memory of that night will stay with me forever. I had no idea then that it was Princess Diana. It was only when she had been put into the ambulance that one of the paramedics told me it was her."
Despite doctors' best efforts, Diana was declared dead at 4am local time, 3am in the UK, at Pitie-Salpetriere