Death of Lady Diana: a firefighter present at the scene of the crash reveals the last words of the princess

Twenty-five years after the terrible disappearance of the “princess of hearts”, mother of Princes William and Harry, everyone remembers her as an extraordinary woman. His tragic fate at the age of 36 shocked the whole world and left unforgettable memories, in particular to those who came to rescue her under the Alma bridge that night of August 31, 1997.

Xavier Gourmelon “To be honest, I thought she would live”

Among the team of caregivers dispatched to the scene, the French firefighters rushed to help the occupants of the vehicle that came to be embedded under the Alma bridge in Paris. Xavier Gourmelon was one of them and had no idea who Lady Diana was when he came to rescue her. According to The Mirror “He did not believe the ‘blonde woman’ in the back of the car was seriously injured as she had her eyes open and was conscious.” Moments before going into cardiac arrest, the Princess of Wales reportedly asked the firefighter “My God, what happened?”

Questioned by The Sun, Xavier Gourmelon indicated “I massaged her heart and seconds later she was breathing again. It was a relief, of course, because as a first responder you want to save lives – and that’s what I I thought I did. To be honest, I thought she would live. As far as I know when she was in the ambulance she was alive and I expected her to be alive. But I learned later that she had died in the hospital. It was very upsetting.” The man who thought he had managed to save her did not know until she was in the ambulance that it was the ex-wife of Prince Charles. “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 wasn’t until she was put in the ambulance that one of the paramedics told me it was her.” A few hours after arriving at the hospital, the Princess died at 4 a.m. on August 31, 1997.