There are many horrific incidents whose impact on the mind is difficult to erase. You can exactly recall the place where you was when you first heard about the horrific incident. The famous incidents from past which rocked people’s mind included the day when the World War I was declared and the day when JFK was assassinated. However, in the recent past, there are two incidents which is very difficult to forget.
The one famous date when the whole world was shocked was September 11, 2001. On this date, America was hit by the terror attack. The other date which really shook the entire world was August 31, 1997, when Princess Diana died in a car crash in a tunnel in Paris. The news was of such magnitude that it got spread like a wildfire. The news was announced in the summer of 1997. Diana was only 36 years old when she died in a car crash. It was said that she lead very turbulent life but it was really beyond the imagination of everyone that she would die in such a brutal and cruel way.
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It was just after her marriage to Prince Charles in 1981 that people started to probe the life of very famous Princess Diana. Her life was always under the media spotlight. Princess Diana drew a lot of anticipation and every aspect of her life was under scrutiny. People used to analyze each and every aspect of Princess Diana’s life.
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Princess Diana’s relationship with Dodi Fayed, the son of an Egyptian billionaire, was also under a lot of spotlight. It is said that Princess Diana started to date Dodi Fayed in 1997. When that started to happen, paparazzi followed them everywhere. It was the same for Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed on the night of August 31, 1997, when the two left The Ritz in Paris.
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The hotel’s security was struggling with the paparazzi as they had gathered with their cameras outside the hotel. To avoid the unrelenting flashes of paparazzi, the hotel security decided to let both of them sneak quickly and quietly. But, they did this even after knowing that this plan may put the princess in more danger.
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To deceive the waiting paparazzi, the security decided to release a decoy vehicle. Just after the release of decoy vehicle, hotel’s deputy head of security, Henri Paul, drove both of them out from the back exit. There was plan to drop the two at Dodi’s apartment which was a short distance away. But, while doing so, some paparazzi spotted them and soon they were in hot pursuit.
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Within the car, Diana and Dodi were seated on the back seat whereas a member of the Al-Fayed’s personal protection team was seated in the front seat while Paul drove the Mercedes. Just after three minutes of leaving the hotel, Paul lost control of the vehicle while passing through the Pont de l’Alma tunnel. The car was traveling at the speed of 65mph and later it was also found that Paul was under the influence of alcohol when the crash took place.
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Soon after the accident, many photographers who were following them reached the spot. They immediately saw a black smoke rising from the damaged Mercedes car. While some of the photographers went to help the accident victims, there were some who were only busy with their shutterbugs – this was an action which was condemned by the whole world including Prince Harry.
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The police rushed to the spot immediately and reached the destination in 10 minutes and ambulance came 5 minutes after the police. Fireman immediately started rescuing the victims from the car wreckage. One of the firemen had heard Princess Diana’s last words as they were extracting her from the car. The fireman, Xavier Gourmelon, informed that after their arrival, they saw Princess Diana was in conscious state and also had her eyes wide open as they tried to cut the piece of metal behind which she was trapped. Then, Diana was put on a stretcher. While doing so, she suffered cardiac arrest but the fireman resuscitated her. Princess Diana started to breathe again and the fireman thought that she will survive.
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“We were very close to there and it took less than three minutes to reach it. My ten-man team was in two trucks and we were first to arrive. The car was in a mess and we just dealt with it like any road accident. We got straight to work to see who needed help and who was alive. When I got to the car I could see the driver was already dead and there was nothing that could be done for him. Mr. Fayed was in the back and in a bad condition, he had a cardiac arrest in the car and when he was taken out he was declared dead by a paramedic. The bodyguard in the front was conscious, but he was trapped and had very severe facial injuries," said Gourmelon.
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“He kept asking for the princess, saying, ‘Where is she? Where is she’? But my team told him to keep calm and not speak. I told him that none of my men spoke English so it was better for him to keep still and not move. I told him not to worry we were looking after everyone. The woman, who I later found out was Princess Diana, was on the floor in the back. She was moving very slightly and I could see she was alive. I could see she had a slight injury to her right shoulder but, other than that, there was nothing significant. There was no blood on her at all," said Gourmelon.
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“I held her hand and told her to be calm and keep still, I said I was there to help and reassured her. She said, ‘My God, what’s happened?’ I gave her some oxygen and my team and I stayed by her side as she was taken out of the car. 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. And the memory of that night will stay with me forever,” added Gourmelon.
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