A fire chief who was one of the first to help Princess Diana after her fatal road crash in Paris has spoken for the first time of how she turned to him and asked, “Oh my God, what’s happened?”
Sgt. Xavier Gourmelon told the Daily Mail that when he arrived at the devastating crash scene in August 1997, Diana was still “moving and talking.”
“She spoke in English and said, ‘Oh my God, what’s happened?’ I could understand that, so I tried to calm her. I held her hand,” said Sgt Gourmelon, who gave statements to police but has never before spoken to the press
The New York Post reports the impact of the crash into an underpass — estimated to have been at around 105 km/h — had already instantly killed driver Henri Paul as well as Diana’s new boyfriend, Dodi Fayed.
Diana, however, seemed physically OK apart from an injured shoulder, recalled Sgt Gourmelon — who had no idea that he was trying to save a princess.
Only after he helped load Diana into an ambulance did he…