“I realize my name will always be attached to this tragic night," Dr. Frederic Mailliez, who was on his way home from a party when he came across the car crash, told The Associated Press. “I feel a little bit responsible for her last moments."
Mailliez was recounting the tragic death of Lady Daina on 31 August, 1997 that he witnessed while driving the Alma tunnel in Paris. He stopped when he spotted a smoking Mercedes nearly split in two.
“I walked toward the wreckage. I opened the door, and I looked inside," he said.
Describing what he saw, he said, “Four people, two of them were apparently dead, no reaction, no breathing, and the two others, on the right side, were living but in severe condition. The front passenger was screaming, he was breathing. He could wait a few minutes. And the female passenger, the young lady, was on her knees on the floor of the Mercedes, she had her head down. She had difficulty to breathe. She needed quick assistance."
He ran to his car to call emergency services and grab a respiratory bag.
“She was unconscious," he said. “Thanks to my respiratory bag (...) she regained a little bit more energy, but she couldn’t say anything."
Hours later he found out that the woman he treated was Diana. “I know it’s surprising, but I didn’t recognize Princess Diana," he said. “I was in the car on the rear seat giving assistance. I realized she was very beautiful, but my attention was so focused on what I had to do to save her life, I didn’t have time to think, who was this woman."
“Someone behind me told me the victims spoke English, so I began to speak English, saying I was a doctor and I called the ambulance," he said. “I tried to comfort her."
As he worked, he noticed the flash of camera bulbs, of paparazzi gathered to document the scene. A British inquest found Diana’s chauffeur, Henri Paul, was drunk and driving at a high speed to elude pursuing photographers.
Firefighters quickly came, and Diana was taken to a Paris hospital, where she died a few hours later. Her companion Dodi Fayed and the driver also died.
“It was a massive shock to learn that she was Princess Diana, and that she died," Mailliez said. Then self-doubt set in. “Did I do everything I could to save her? Did I do correctly my job?" he asked himself. “I checked with my medical professors and I checked with police investigators," he said, and they agreed he did all he could.
The anniversary is stirring up those memories again, but they also come back “each time I drive through the Alma Tunnel," he said.
(With inputs from agencies)
