Firefighter reveals Princess Diana's heartbreaking last four words before she died
Princess Diana's final words have been revealed by a firefighter who was there after she was found in the car wreckage that would ultimately take her life.
Princess Diana tragically died on August 31, 1997.
It occurred when the 36-year-old and her partner Dodi Fayed, his driver and their security personnel, were trying to escape paparazzi in Paris when the car they were travelling in crashed inside of a tunnel.
It's reported that the chauffeur, Henri Paul, lost control of the car as they entered the Pont de l'Alma underpass, hit another vehicle, and collided with a column at an estimated 65 mph which left Dodi and Henri dead and Diana fighting for her life.
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Dodi's bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones ended up as the sole survivor, however he has maintained that he lost his memory of the crash due to his injuries at the time.
According to a forensic pathologist, Princess Diana could have survived her 'incredibly rare' fatal injury.
Dr. Richard Shepherd claimed she could've lived 'if only' a few life-saving measures before and in the immediate aftermath had happened.
He explained in his book that if she had worn a seatbelt, hit the back of the seat in front of her at a different angle or slower speed and been placed in the ambulance sooner, she would have lived.
Sadly, that wouldn't be the case.
Emergency services rushed to the scene following the catastrophic crash, and among the first to arrive was firefighter Xavier Gourmelon.
Gourmelon said he didn't immediately recognize Diana, but said that the 'blonde woman' in the backseat was conscious when he approached the vehicle.
The firefighter claims he was was holding her hand and reassuring her while they waited for her to be extracted from the wreckage when Diana said four words that would end up being her last.
"My God, what's happened?" she asked moments before going into cardiac arrest.
Diana was later pronounced dead at Pitie-Salpetriere hospital in Paris. Speaking to The Sun, Gourmelon recalled what happened on that tragic night.
"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', he told the outlet.
"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," he continued.
"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."
People around the world grieved following the news of Diana's death. Tens of thousands of people are said to have flocked to Kensington Palace to pay their respects, and her televised funeral was watched an estimated 2.5 billion people worldwide.
Topics: News, Royal Family
Bec Oakes