Princess Diana's Devastating Last Words As Firefighter Desperately Tried To Save Her

Aug 31, 2020 by apost team

When Xavier Gourmelon, a firefighter at the time, responded to a car crash in a Paris tunnel on August 31, 1997, all he knew was that one of the passengers was a "blonde woman." When treating his patient, who he would later find out to be Princess Diana, she was conscious, had her eyes opened, and did not seem to be in serious danger.

He then gave the late Princess oxygen, held her hand, and tried to calm her down, according to The Sun. That’s when she asked him: “My God, what’s happened?”

Gourmelon claims there were no signs of external bleeding on Diana, just a minor shoulder injury that was in no way life-threatening. Moments later, Diana went into cardiac arrest.

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“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,” Gourmelon told the Sun in 2017.

Thanks to Gourmelon and his team’s efforts, Diana regained consciousness.

“To be honest I thought she would live,” he said. “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.”

The now-retired firefighter told the publication that since he did not follow British Royalty, he did not immediately recognize the Princess of Wales. Only after he took her to the ambulance and was told by one of his colleagues did he become aware of her true identity. 

As it turned out, Diana had suffered from a number of internal injuries. She was immediately admitted into surgery when her ambulance arrived at the Pitié-Salpétrière Hospital, but the doctors were unable to save her. 

“The memory of that night will stay with me forever,” said Gourmelon.

Do you remember the day of Diana’s tragic passing? Let us know in the comments–and make sure you pass this along to your friends and family.