A firefighter who attended the Paris tunnel where Princess Diana suffered a fatal car crash has revealed what may have been her final words.
It’s been 28 years since the Princess of Wales, her boyfriend Dodi Fayed, and security chief Henri Paul died in a car crash in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel in 1997.
Reports suggest that Paul was driving a Mercedes-Benz S280 at high speed while a total of nine journalists were chasing them down.
Paul reportedly lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a column in the underpass, which killed him and Fayed instantly.
Diana and Fayed’s bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, was left severely injured as firefighters attended the scene with emergency services.
On the 20th anniversary of her death, French firefighter Xavier Gourmelon told Good Morning Britain what she said to him.
It’s been 28 years since Diana’s death (Anwar Hussein/WireImage)
Upon arrival, he said no one was aware who had been involved in the crash, and he couldn’t recognise Diana.
Gourmelon said: “She looked at me and said, ‘Oh my God, what’s happened?’”.
He claims she looked ‘agitated’ in the car wreck before losing consciousness yet again.
“I tried to calm her down and tell her we’d look after her, and she fell into a coma again,” he revealed.
“At that moment, the doctor said she was in cardiac arrest.
Trevor Rees-Jones (front-left) was the only survivor (Jacques Langevin/scottbaker-inquests.gov.uk via Getty Images)
“So, we gave her CPR, and after 20 seconds, she regained consciousness, and we transferred her to the ambulance.”
The firefighter said that after she was taken to the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris, he expected her to make a full recovery, as he could only see the injuries to her shoulders and didn’t see any blood on her.
Sadly, Diana died from another cardiac arrest at around 4.00am, as doctors were unable to resuscitate her.
Fayed’s bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, sustained severe injuries but survived the crash.
A French investigation concluded that Paul was intoxicated and driving recklessly, which led to the crash.
Diana’s death shook the world (JOHN D MCHUGH/AFP via Getty Images)
Whereas the British inquest, known as Operation Paget, further examined the circumstances and returned with a verdict of ‘unlawful killing’ due to grossly negligent driving.
The inquest also noted that none of the occupants were wearing seat belts, which contributed to the severity of the injuries.
Diana and Fayed embarked on a brief, yet widely publicised romance before their death.
It came after the Princess and Prince Charles finalised their divorce in 1997, after 15 years of marriage.
Their separation was announced in December 1992, as Queen Elizabeth II urged the couple to formally divorce, which they did four years later.
In 1995, two years before the fatal car crash, Diana wrote a note that seemingly predicted her own cause of death.
Featured Image Credit: Mark Reinstein/Corbis via Getty Images
Princess Diana’s former chauffeur has spoken out for the first time in decades and has made the bold claim that she would still be here today if he was driving that night.
The mystery and intrigue surrounding her death is still a hot topic 27 years on, as people still think about what really happened on that fateful day in Paris.
Just 36 at the time of her death, the Princess of Wales died from the injuries that she sustained in the early hours on 31 August, 1997.
What really happened on 31 August 1997 is still a topic of discussion (Anwar Hussein/WireImage)
The Royal Family member was travelling in a car with boyfriend, filmmaker Dodi Fayed, along with Diana’s driver, Henri Paul, and Fayed’s bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones in Paris in the early hours of the morning.
As the car was chased by nine journalists through the Pont de l’Alma underpass, something went horribly wrong.
